


Hakuno of the Nile

by FuwaFuwaMedb



Category: Fate/EXTRA, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 21:30:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19159357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuwaFuwaMedb/pseuds/FuwaFuwaMedb
Summary: They were going to be equals, instead the king was summoned away from her. And now, standing in the cold snow of Chaldea, Hakuno finds herself hearing the worst news yet. "I burned him."Of course, her summoning brings her a new king. Her summoning brings forth the great reincarnation of Ra, god of the sun, the king of kings. "Almighty gods, look upon my works- And despair!"





	1. The King of Kings

“You… You burned him?”

Hakuno stared at the woman, not believing her ears as the woman before her cowered. She was biting her lip as she tried to think of what to say. As if there was something she could say to justify burning someone who was probably the greatest servant in the universe. 

Glancing up at Vimana, Hakuno tried to think. 

She could try roaming again, but…

It had been three months alone. Three very long, very arduous months of meandering from place to place, trying to find Gilgamesh after he had been ripped from her side more or less. She really shouldn’t have used the command spells to make him let her fly the ship and kiss her that one night. 

She had tried to be spontaneous, show him that he could have his freedom and not use the “well you’re my master” nonsense to explain why he hung around her. Making those demands, it was supposed to be that they would be on equal footing. 

Instead, Gilgamesh had stripped her down, prepared to finally take her maidenhood, and poof. 

No Gilgamesh for three months and she was flying through space. 

“I’ll try to summon him again!” Gudako waved her arms a bit. “I will! I’ve done it before. I accidentally burned a couple other servants and summoned them once more. In the meantime, you can stay here and rest! You must have been traveling a lot.” 

Hakuno glanced at the base, already hating this bone-chilling weather. The coat Gilgamesh had given her was not quite thick enough for this weather. She could feel her fingers freezing. Her feet were getting soaked now that she was standing in one place. 

“Do you mind the company?” Hakuno asked. 

“Do I- Please! Come in.” Gudako pulled her inside, closing the door behind her. “Oh. Do you have luggage?” 

“N-No.” 

The Gates of Babylon had been a wonderful storage space for her things. It had been another mistake on her part that she was deeply regretting. 

The woman seemed to miss the fact that she was shivering uncontrollably. Instead, the woman was continuing to make promises, walking her through a place that was still too damn cold for her liking. She picked up her pace to catch up, but damn. She really just wanted to find Gilgamesh and head out of here. She was going to build her contract with the king once more and that would be it. 

“This is the summoning room,” Gudako showed her. She nodded. “I have three saint quartz. I could try… Hold on.” She set the stones in various sides of the circle in the room, pressing her hands together. 

“Should I stand back?” 

Gudako nodded. 

Hakuno moved off the circle, waiting. 

The circle lit up, a flash of sparks and light illuminating the room. 

A bowl of tofu appeared in the center of the circle. 

She almost wanted to cry at the look of steam coming off the bowl. It was so warm looking. And here she was, cold and pissed. 

Gudako groaned. “I hate mapo tofu. Fucking always shows up.” 

Hakuno pulled her coat off, tossing it aside and looking at the circle. She wiped off several of the symbols from the floor, pulling a marker from her coat pocket and scribbling in what symbols she remembered from her own circle. The woman nearby watched, waiting. 

She pressed her face to the circle, murmuring the words she had tried so many times before. 

So damn many times. 

Sparks erupted, a greater power flooding the room. She could hear the woman curse aloud, cheering on the events happening before them. 

She laughed, unable to help herself. 

Please, by all the moon cell was supposed to represent, let him come. 

She looked up as the command spells took form on her hand. 

A brunet stood before her, laughing a little as he looked around. “My name is Ozymandias. A king amongst kings. Almighty gods, look upon my works- And despair!” 

Disappointment flooded her at the sight of him. It was cold, she was tired. She closed her eyes, laying her head against the floor. 

“Hmm? Master?” The man reached down. 

It was as though the world’s embodiment of warmth and home had pressed a hand to her arm. As soon as it was there, she felt it pull back. A gush of strange words escaped the man before she felt a fabric wrapped around her body. She was pulled into the arms of the servant, lifted up into his arms before the man was speaking once more. 

“Oi. Other contractor. What have you done to my master? She is cold.” 

“Cold… Shit! I didn’t-“ the red head from before was flustered, no doubt gesturing wildly again. “I’m so sorry, Hakuno! You just arrived and I kept you outside for days! Ah- And Ozymandias. You don’t remember me? I visited your singularity.” 

The man huffed. “Insolent as ever, Gudako.” 

“He does remember then,” she heard the woman murmur. “Come with me. I’ll show you both to a room for while you stay. Hakuno came here by ship. I don’t know if there’s somewhere she was planning on going, but I’m trying to summon her friend.” 

The pharaoh held her tightly. She could feel the man’s hand brushing through her hair. 

The world drifted out of focus for a while. 

It was hard not to. For the first time in hours, no months, she was in a place of comfort. She could feel a great warmth, a pair of arms holding her once more. Her body simply succumbed in the end, giving in to the feeling of being back with someone again. 

She felt that warmth continue, unending. 

Her eyes drifted open, mind trying to place where she was. 

It was all so comfortable, so smooth and gloriously heated. Why move? Why get up and try to do anything? Her eyes closed again. 

No, she needed to get up. 

She opened her eyes once more, finding two golden eyes watching her from beneath thick, dark lashes. The man’s tanned skin was in her view. She could see it continue-

She tried to sit up, but the servant held her in place against his chest. 

“Rest, Master. You still need to rest.” 

That wasn’t right. What was really needed was to try again at summoning Gilgamesh. Hakuno opened her mouth to argue, but there was a sour taste in her mouth. She frowned, finding her body feeling lethargic. 

What-

“You had a fever,” the brunet explained. “Rejoice, I felt it appropriate to properly chastise that worthless contractor for Chaldea and have you properly treated. I have taken the liberty of putting you into more appropriate attire and have looked after you while you were asleep.” 

“How long?” 

“A couple days,” the man replied, brushing a hand through her hair again. His gaze was soft, making her shift uncomfortably. 

“I really need to be working.” 

“You need rest,” the man argued, pulling the blankets tighter around her person. 

“I really need to be-“ She felt him press his lips to her hand, stopping her argument and shaking his head further. 

“I was thinking that I had been summoned by nothing less than a mere fool, but I saw the necklace that you wear, a symbol of Ra. You are one of my people, despite the paleness.” 

The necklace? 

She had forgotten she was still wearing Gilgamesh’s latest gift to her. The strange golden pendant had caught the king’s eye in the last planet they had visited. She had simply indulged him, finding that she had gotten into a bad argument with him again about absolutely nothing. 

It had been impossible to take off after she had lost him. 

The brunet before her merely chuckled, pulling her hand that had gone to her necklace up to his lips now. He kissed it again. 

She could see those eyes moving like melted gold, smoldering as he looked upon her. 

“Ah, so worshipful. I do not know of your situation, my master, but you are under my care now. You are one of my people, you declare by wearing this. As such, I shall care for you as a pharaoh should care for what is theirs.” 

Ohhh but she didn’t need that. 

“I…”

“There is no need for thanks for my part. It is fine. Rest easy against me and take warmth from me. I have found that you curl up against my body and seek my warmth so eagerly.” 

She pulled her hand free, moving off of him only to find him spooning up against her back. She felt his arm sling over her waist, pulling her in. 

“I am sure you have many questions, naturally. I am a pharaoh of great renown and I am sure you have heard many tales. They are far greater from my own lips. Allow me to tell you of my adventures until you fall back into slumber.” 

He just kept talking. 

Hakuno couldn’t help but to sigh, surrendering to the heat for a time once more. There was not a real choice in the matter. He was going to continue to keep her here, insisting that she rest. If she had been running a fever, which wouldn’t surprise her, then this man had been nice enough to care for her. The least she could do was allow herself to be cared for until she was back to full health. 

“…of course, where I come from, the desert storms are great. One could look out into the distance and see the sands moving in great abundance in the air, guided by Set’s mighty hand, no doubt.” 

“Set?” 

“Ah, you do not know of Set?” The man grinned a little, pulling the blankets over her a little more as she rolled over to look up at him. “You only worship myself then. I find myself humbled by you, my master.” He laughed a little, “but knowing of the other gods is important. Set is the god of chaos and storms, he sends the world into violence and chaos. He grasped his hands upon my brother, for example, filling his head with nonsense, until there was little choice but to let him go.” 

“You lost your brother?” 

“He was lost to me many moons ago, little one.” The pharaoh shook his head. “Think nothing of it. It is… a rather bitter topic, I must confess.” 

“I know that feeling,” Hakuno told him. “I have been looking for my… friend- for three months now. I lost him to the grail.” 

“My condolences for your loss. Is that why you sought to take a servant from the grail?” 

Thank the gods, this kingly person understood. Hakuno nodded. “That’s right. I wanted to at least try.” It had felt like she had come close too. If she just tried again…

The man began to laugh, nodding in agreement. “Truly, there is no better master that could have summoned me! Once again, since you are well and can truly appreciate my introduction, I am Ozymandias, the king of kings! The pharaoh of the great world! The reincarnation of the sun god Ra!” 

“My name is Hakuno Kishinami,” Hakuno greeted. “I am the master- was the master to Gilgamesh of Uruk and Nero Claudius of the great Roman empire.” 

“I do not know of them, but you are the master to the sun god now.” The man held her hands in his own, warming them as he turned those golden eyes on her once more. They smoldered, hypnotizingly. She found herself blushing under that gaze for some reason. 

Most likely the slight fever she still had. 

“Ah, you blush like my sweet wife once blushed,” the man purred. “Worry not. I shall take excellent care of you, proving myself to be more worthwhile than the great servants that you have known before.” 

The pharaoh was no less arrogant than her other servants. She pressed her face to their hands and closed her eyes, welcoming whatever rest may come. 

“Do you wish to hear more about my life? I have many tales to share with you,” the man offered. 

It was wrong to turn down a king when he wished to boast about themselves. She knew better than to turn him down. Instead, she nodded, keeping her eyes closed. 

His lips pressed to her forehead. “As I would expect, you are curious. It is not every day that a mere mortal summons a great and powerful king! I shall tell you tales that will send you beyond the very edges of your imagination! Plead with your heart to keep beating, so that you may hear to the very end, my dear Hakuno.” 

And he went on and on, that strange and arrogant voice of his filling her ears. It wasn’t even unpleasant, in all honesty. It was a noise, background music of sorts for sleeping. She found herself snuggling closer to him, hearing him laugh and nuzzling into his chest. The smell of incense filled her senses, making her simply melt away into submission. 

“The lands of the pharaohs are greater than any place in the universe,” the pharaoh continued, “It is in this land that I came to be, finding my people and my world in need of me. I was raised to learn of the gods. Hathor, much like my first wife and yourself, was a woman of demure and gentle nature. She fascinated me in particular, showing a great wisdom as well as a great backbone to which the other gods could not help but to respect…” 

She woke up, hours later. She could feel herself tangled in the sheets, pressed against the pharaoh as he slumbered at her side. Her eyes went to the canopy above them, the green ferns and golden décor in the room. It was much, much more colorful than she was used to. It was as though the man had smashed a kaleidoscope within the room and the pieces had shattered beautifully throughout the room. 

She pulled herself slowly away from the pharaoh, finding the man’s white cloak near the bed. Despite the gossamer dress she had on, she found herself bundling within the thick white fabric, holding it close as she looked around more. 

A few strange creatures tossed and turned in the corner. She wasn’t sure if they were asleep or not. It was impossible to tell without them having faces or expressions or anything. They merely lay on their sides, legs wiggling here and there. A soft sound escaped them, filling the room’s silence alongside a small fountain nearby. 

It was a beautiful room. 

She moved near the door and noted the sandals, slipping them on quietly before she peered out into the hallway. 

No one was there. 

She moved a foot out the door. 

“Hakuno!” 

Every inch of her stood on end at the sound of that voice, her body spinning around, slamming the door shut. She stared at him, watching the man sigh in relief. 

“You are feeling better?” 

“Ah- Yes. I’m feeling much better, thanks to you.” 

A smile and the man was moving to the edge of the bed. At the movement, the small critters over near the corner scurried over to him, climbing onto the bed and greeting him as well. 

“Ah, you are all so lively this morning! One would think you were roaming about with our dear master,” he cooed, lifting one after another to kiss them softly. 

“They’re yours?” 

“Of course. These are my sphinxes. A pharaoh must have his entourage, after all.” The man laughed, looking at the lot of them. “Come, Hakuno! Greet them as well. They are powerful creatures. I have fed many men to their parents. A full grown sphinx can devour a dozen men in great hunger.” 

Oh, no. 

She eyed them warily, moving to the pharaoh’s side. 

“Come now, don’t be so shy,” the man purred. He took her hand, moving it along one of the strange galaxy-colored creatures. “This one is a runt. It will no doubt be easy enough to tame.” 

“Tame?” 

“Naturally, I imagine you will want to keep one with you. They will help you find me should we ever get lost in this place.” 

“I see.” She didn’t understand at all. 

The man looked her over a moment before smiling more, his hands went to the nightstand nearby, pulling a large, blue gem embellished belt from the drawer. His hands went to the cloak, taking the belt to clip it strangely enough into place. 

It hung heavier around her shoulders, but it was fixed in place. 

“I could give it back,” Hakuno offered. 

“No no. There is no need.” He pat her head, standing up and moving to the dresser. “I am going to fix my appearance for reception. I imagine the other people of this place will inquire as to who we are and what we are doing in this place.” 

“I’d rather we not deal with too many people.” 

“Are you still fatigued?” 

Every single part of her wanted to move, wanted to leave this room to investigate the area. She’d been resting for too long already. But declining may mean that she would have to greet the people of this place. From what she had seen when she had landed Vimana, she knew there were many. 

So very many. 

The pharaoh took a moment though, fixing liner around his eyes and brushing at his hair. Examining himself carefully in the mirror, he took a moment to indulge in his own imagine. 

“I shall encourage our interactions to be brief today. We can procure a feast and rest. I think it would be best for us to know one another more before we venture forth. You have listened a great deal to my stories about life before all of this.” He motioned at the room. “Yet I have heard very little of you.” 

“What does it matter?” 

“Hmm?” He stared at her, almost ruining his eye liner for the second eye. “Hakuno, you are my master, the master of a pharaoh! You cannot ask such frivolous questions! You have a story. I sense it in your eyes when we gaze upon one another. I feel it in the way your body curls into mine, seeking a second half. You behave much like my sweet Nefertari did when I had to part from her.” 

“You’d never believe what you hear.” 

His laugh was boisterous, echoing off the walls. “Ah, young woman. You would be surprised what tales I can believe. You are most interesting than I first thought! It is no wonder I have come to you.” 

He crossed the room, holding out a hand as she stroked the runt sphinx. 

“Come with me,” he commanded simply. 

Hakuno looked up at him a moment, taking in the strange golden belt and armor around his legs and the dark fabrics underneath. She took in the sight of those eyes, even more noticeable now than before. 

Her hand slipped into the pharaoh’s. 

“Marvelous,” the pharaoh exclaimed. “Master of the great pharaoh, my strange conqueror of the stars on your great chariot, I am at your command.” 

The sphinx encircled them before she could even think to argue. 

She was now the master to a strange cat lover. 


	2. Warmth

She was now in the hands of an absolute savior, Hakuno amended, leaning against the pharaoh as he continued to harass and interrogate the master of this place. She munched on some of the bread, listening to his voice fill the room.

How did she have so many servants? Why was she not spending more time with each of them? How did she make them feel like they were properly treated? Did she rule over them? How did that work when many of them were of volatile temperaments? Did she have plans for more servants? 

She could see the woman’s head spinning. Those eyes glanced her way from time to time, as though pleading for her to stop the man from speaking. She knew that look from so long ago, when a certain blond would be endlessly harassing her classmates. She knew the strain that came to someone’s expression when they were reaching their limits. 

She knew, but she was tired. 

They’d walked though a kilometer of hallway before Hakuno had realized two things: 

1) She didn’t have the energy to be running around right now. 

Her body was still very tired, whether from the months in space flying through absolute nothingness or from the days she had been sick and lying in the pharaoh’s bed; she wasn’t sure. All she knew was her body was going to keel over if she walked back and it was going to keel over if she went further. 

Each step she took felt like her legs were going to give in, merely bending sideways to send her keeling to the floor. Each moment upright had her head in a fog, her stomach growling and rolling over and over. She was so hungry. 

Had she ever been like this before? 

Then there was the other fact: 

2) There were multiple servants. Everywhere. 

The servants meandered around the hallways, nodding to them as they walked. Various sizes, it was truly a good thing that the halls were built so large. Some of them towered over her and the pharaoh, some showing muscle of such mass that she was sure they could have squished her if they had an arm wrestling match. Hell, a high five would send her through the thick glass that showed the mountains and snow she had landed in. 

Not even Vimana would save her from those heights. 

Speaking of which, where had they tossed Vimana? 

Now that she was thinking about it, she really needed to find where they had tossed Gil’s ship. If they had even scratched it…

Well, he couldn’t be mad if he wasn’t around, could he? 

“Come here,” the pharaoh had murmured, lifting her up and holding her against his chest. She found herself wrapping her arms around him for the moment. Her body ached, like a thousand kilos of weight were bearing down on her. Yet the pharaoh held her easily. 

“Ah! You’re awake!” 

Hakuno shifted, the pharaoh had laughed, and now they were to this. 

This being the dining hall. She had been given a collection of food and Ozy was filling the red head’s ears with so much noise that it was a wonder she could think straight. His laughter, much like Gilgamesh’s own laughter, was pushing people away. It was an easily avoided background sound, giving her silence otherwise to merely relax. 

Nameless was here, she noted, seeing him arguing with Cu Chulainn. 

Nero and Tamamo were likewise present, arguing over something before Bathory said something and earned a good collection of outraged comments from the duo. 

She could see Gawain around other knight looking people, laughing at something Artoria was saying. 

Altera glanced at her, but her eyes drifted back to the man dressed like some western film, murmuring quietly and nodding at something he was saying. 

All of these were the red head’s servants. 

It was heavily impressive, but it didn’t take away from the fact that she had burned Gilgamesh. Whatever that meant. All she could think of was the pure sadistic manner that such a comment entailed. 

“Look! They’re happy enough!” Gudako waved her hands at the pharaoh. “Can I please just talk to your master for five seconds!” 

“She is recovering,” he chastised. “Do not think to speak to her at this time. I am only allowing her this freedom so that she may properly return to good health.” 

“Hakuno-“ Gudako tried to talk around him only to find the man glaring at her. 

“Did you not hear me? I believe I informed you that my master is recovering and is in no manner to receive your inquiries. Do you think yourself above me?” 

“O-Of course not!” Gudako flinched under his scrutiny, shaking her head quickly. 

Hakuno shook her head a little, pressing a hand to the pharaoh’s arm. “It’s alright. I don’t mind listening. I think I will want to go back to our room for a while after this though.” 

“Thank the world,” Gudako sighed, “Okay! So, I’m sorry again for burning Gilgamesh. I know he meant a lot to you and I know that I can’t really say anything other than he was kind of an annoying bastard who harassed-“

“You burned someone close to my master?” 

The softness in that question made Hakuno pause. Gudako was still going on, but the man at her side was glancing between the two of them, that expression darkening. 

“-and I know you were probably traveling a while since I burned him like three months ago, but like- You have to understand-“

“I would like an explanation.” 

“Hmm?” Gudako looked up at the pharaoh. “What do you mean, Pharoah?” 

“You burned her servant?” 

“Gilgamesh wasn’t necessarily my servant. He was more like a partner,” Hakuno corrected, feeling her face burning a little. It was a bit embarrassing, considering all that had occurred. He’d been a terrible servant, but he’d grown on her personally. He’d grown a great deal while working with her through the Moon Cell and out into the universe. They’d bonded, at least- in some respects. 

And then she’d failed him by trying to put them on equal footing. 

“Ah,” the man clicked his tongue, tilting her face up. “Hathor save me, but does that expression not remind me of my own finery…” She could see those eyes gleam a bit as his thumb stroked at her cheek softly. Then he turned to Gudako. “You burned her partner.” 

“I-I didn’t mean to,” Gudako countered, sensing her mistake. She bit her lip. “I’m going to summon him! It’ll be fine. I did it once. I can do it again. Just- Give me a little time, okay?” 

“What will time give back?” The pharaoh asked. 

“I can summon him if I get enough time,” Gudako insisted. 

Ozymandias stood up, shaking his head. “I think my master has heard enough. No more on this subject. A loss is difficult to process, especially with one so close.” 

She grabbed her plate as the man simply lifted her, carrying her towards the door. She had kind of been hoping for seconds, but it seems that wasn’t in the cards. The man was skulking down the hallways, shaking his head. 

“This Gildamesh-“

“Gilgamesh-“

“Yes, he was your partner?” 

“He fought with me against enemy servants and gave me the chance to live.” He’d done a great deal for her in general, although telling him that would be the same as tossing wood in fire. “We went through a lot together. I lost all of my friends and they were like family in a lot of ways. He was going to show me the universe.” 

“You have no one else?” 

She shook her head. “I just had Gilgamesh until a few months ago. Then it was just me. I had to fight my way off a few planets and the nothingness was a bit…” Unbearable, although she didn’t want to necessarily tell him that. “I enjoyed having company.” 

The pharaoh nodded. “I cannot replace him.” 

“No, you can’t,” she agreed. “I don’t intend to make you replace him.” 

“Have you considered what you will do now? You have found he is gone.” 

Hakuno shook her head again. “I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t really have any goals and I don’t have anyone to meet with. Maybe I’ll stick around here. I recognized some of the servants. Maybe I could assist with whatever is happening here.” 

“You’d fight for these Chaldeans?” 

“I’d try to help, if it’s for the right reasons.” 

The pharaoh nodded at her, closing those eyes. “They are innocent enough. I have spoken to that woman from before, Gudako, several times. They fight to keep time aligned and humanity alive. I do not fully recall my time with her, but she recognizes me.” 

“I don’t have the greatest memory either,” Hakuno told him. 

Oymandias smirked a little, hoisting her up a little in his arms. “It has nothing to do with memory. She must have seen my face on the pyramids and imagined her encounters with me. To think I would be defeated so easily by her and her meager warriors.” 

Ah, an ego. Hakuno nodded. “Of course.” 

Gudako had probably fought him and he had no intention of revealing said fact. If he had been defeated in a big way, then it was little wonder he would deny the whole thing. 

Somehow, the idea of him losing almost made her smile. 

“Ah, what is this?” 

They were somehow heading in the right direction towards their rooms. She wasn’t sure if he knew it by instinct or merely had read some invisible sign, but she knew the looks of that scenery outside. She could see the same vista and mountaintops looking back at them. 

The pharaoh had not been commenting on the mountains and blue skies though. Those eyes were looking at her, smugly noting her expression. She forced herself to stop smiling. 

“Nothing,” she shook her head, keeping her grip on the plate of food. “Are we almost there?” 

“We are there.” 

He set her down in front of a door, opening it to reveal their room. 

“I will ask one demand of you,” Ozymandias told her. 

Hakuno looked back, staring up at him. 

“Do not compare me to him. Think of me as something of an entirely new nature. Someone who radiates like the sun above, who has taken a keen interest in your wellbeing as it relates to my own. Gaze upon me, and feel pride in the fact that you have summoned someone of such rarity that my lands took to feasts at gazing upon me with naked eye.” 

He was that egotistical? 

He didn’t need to worry about being compared. Gilgamesh complained. Him? Well, Ozymandias seemed to be intent upon boasting up his own image rather than giving a comment towards another. He seemed intent on almost drawing her in with that proud personality. 

It was almost as though he were awaiting her to swoon at the very sight of him. 

Hakuno looked over at him, really taking him in as she agreed to his terms. She found herself pausing, taking note of something that had missed her attention from before. 

He wasn’t very covered. In all of this place, not a single area except near the kitchens had really been warm. She had been grateful for his cloak, but the pharaoh himself had been running around with his chest and back exposed. The attire he had on was doing nothing to stave off the chill. 

Looking around, Hakuno found a table for her food. She set the plate down carefully, holding up a hand for the pharaoh as she moved her attention to the cloak around her. The belt took but a moment. She unclasped it, pulling it off and wrapping it around his shoulders. 

“What is this?” 

“You shouldn’t be cold,” Hakuno murmured. “I’m sorry for taking it for so long.” 

Silence. 

She stared up at his face, noting the shock on his features. 

“What?” 

“What interest is it to you of my comforts?” 

“You’re my partner now, aren’t you?” Hakuno shook her head. “I don’t really do the whole servant and master thing. It’s never really worked out in my favor.” Being split apart, almost deleted, harassed endlessly for trying to give commands… No, it was better to think of her servants as partners. 

“Partner?” 

“Companion? Is that a better name for this relationship?” 

He grinned, covering his face a bit. His shoulders shook a little as that smile bloomed forth. Why did that smile seem sheepish? Almost like he was embarrassed? 

“Ozy-“

The man burst into laughter, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Her feet left the ground, her face pressing deep into that white fabric. She hoped to the Moon Cell and back she didn’t have anything on her face. It’d stain that white material. 

“I am unaccustomed to such declarations so soon!” Ozymandias told her, his cheeks slightly colored. “I cannot blame you for your response to me. I know my Nefertari spoke many times of such things when we were alone. To think I’d beguile my own master- No, companion,” he corrected. 

Okay, did companion mean something different to him? 

Hakuno opened her mouth to elaborate, but the man was setting her down on the bed. 

“Rest. Partake in the rest of your meal. Allow me to ease your mind of such sorrows and fill it instead in wonderment over the world of Egyptian gods and pharaohs. I shall be good for you, you will see. I am that which makes the sun rise over the horizon and I rest it behind the great mounds of sand to sleep.” 

“I’ve never actually seen deserts before.” 

Another laugh, booming around her now as the man’s shoulders shook more. “Never seen the desert? This must be corrected. Where have you come forth from?” 

“The Moon Cell.” 

“The moon? You look nothing like Khonsu, the god of the moon.” 

She wasn’t even sure what to say to him about that. There weren’t any Egyptians that had shown up in the Moon Cell. There’d been Karna, but that man was related to the sun, much like this guy. 

He was grinning though, standing up to his full height so he could tower over her. “You are much more like Anut. A warrior goddess who protected the sun and the kings in battle. A fierce woman in features, but still a woman in the end. Her radiance was as defined as her talent with a blade.” 

Was she… 

Was she being complimented? 

Those hands of his took hers, pulling them up to his lips so he could kiss them softly. That smile bloomed forth from there, his hair falling into his face a bit as he gave her back the freedom of her hands. 

She just felt her face burning, her hands still clasped together from when he had taken them. As she looked up at him, she could see something in his eyes. The emotion was a mystery to her. 

As was the strange feeling in her chest. 

Hakuno stared at him as he turned. The white fabric of his cloak flapped around him as he headed towards the door with a spring in his step. His golden eyes glanced her way as he held the door open. 

“I am going to marvel at your ship again, my companion! Partake in the comforts I have brought forth for you and rest in my absence. When you are fully recovered, I shall show you the desert sands and the powers that come with choosing so wisely to align yourself with a pharaoh! We shall feast this evening to our gained alliance!” 

The moment that the door closed and the sound of his laughter disappeared into the distance, Hakuno shook her head. She kicked the sandals on her feet off, slipping back beneath the covers and laying for a while there. 

Feasts. 

Gained alliance…

The man spoke as overly formal and commanding as Gilgamesh had when they had first met. Even still, she found him reverting back when he was pissed off or showing off. 

Was the pharaoh showing off? 

She wasn’t sure what to make of him, but she had promised not to compare him. She owed it to him to be true to her word on that. 

Hakuno felt the small creatures from before climbing onto the bed, curling up around her and she smiled. Her hands went to their fur, marveling at the silk-like texture. 

“What do you think of our great pharaoh?” Hakuno asked the one closest. 

A rough tongue met her cheek. 

"Ah, a flirt. I see." She'd have to be careful. 


	3. An Invitation to Trouble

“Master.”

Hakuno groaned, rolling over from the extreme heat that could only be one existence in this universe. She could feel those hands gently shaking her, the servant leaning over her already and no doubt dressed, if that hard grip of theirs was any indication. 

“Master, it is time to rise! The locusts have gone into slumber, the sun has arisen, we have subjects to see to, and there is no time to waste! Come!” 

“Ozy-“

“Ramses! How many times must I correct you? Have you gone soft in your sleep?” 

Hakuno sat up, refusing to open her eyes for a moment as she tried to process being upright. Her mind said the exuberant pharaoh would be hounding her into motion, but her body said it wouldn’t fully give up the fight without trying. The combination was turning her towards thoughts of the comforts of those soft pillows and silk sheets. The sphinxes were already wriggling away into her spot, knowing she had kept it warm and it no doubt smelled like her. 

“You are almost there, my little master,” Ozymandias cheered, as though she had simply got up at his command and not because of several days of slowly being tugged by the ankles from the bed and touring this grand place that was Chaldea. 

She blearily gazed up into that radiant face, yawning loudly as the man pulled her by her hands to her feet. 

“There you are. There is much we need to do.” The man moved away from her, rummaging through the drawers before the vanity as though looking for something. 

“My clothes are over here,” Hakuno pointed out, knowing the woman, Gudako, had given her some uniforms for this place along with some toiletries. Toiletries of which were now in the trash, since Ozymandias had become outraged at the lackluster quality and ‘scents that made the very flowers they claimed to smell as wilt’. 

“Come here,” the man told her. 

She went. 

The man didn’t necessarily have her trained so much as she merely didn’t want to argue with him. Too tired, too done with trying to argue and ask why with every command. The pharaoh owned the space. She just took up residence. 

“You may keep your eyes closed. I will permit it,” he announced to her. “I was having a discussion with Nitocris yesterday when she had pointed out such an obvious flaw in my handling of you. I must rectify this immediately.” 

“Flaw?” 

“You shall see, please remain very still. I have not done this with many before. Normally, it is others tending to me! But I am a generous pharaoh. You may praise me as you wish later.” 

Ah, so generous. She felt the sphinxes curling around her feet as she waited, feeling him running something over her eyelids. 

“What are you doing?” Hakuno asked. 

“You must wait… Ah, I have to begin once more. You must remain still!” 

Remaining still was not the problem. If anything, she found herself nonplussed at the feeling of the man washing her face first, complaining that she was distracting him from his work and needed to be still. The little ones around her ankles were even still after a while, no doubt sensing their pharaoh’s frustrations. 

“Ramses,” Hakuno murmured after a time, feeling him pulling back for what had to be the thousandth time. “Are you finished?” 

“I am.” 

She blinked her eyes open, finding the man grinning proudly. 

“Now you feel far worthier for fighting at the side of a pharaoh. It is not simply the strength that commands a pharaoh and encourages them in battle, it is also the appearance!” 

Oh good lord, Hakuno glanced towards the mirror, pausing a bit. 

“So you want me to wear makeup?” 

“It is minerals found and blended-“

Hakuno gave him a look, raising a brow. 

“I suppose, if you wish to make light of the work put forth by the ancients in creating a great leader to whom the people could worship, then yes. It is _makeup._ ” He mocked the very word, as though it left a sour taste in his mouth. 

She bit her lip, watching him sulk. 

“It looks very nice,” she gave him. 

“You cheapen such refinery,” the pharaoh complained to her. His hand took hers, pulling her away from her drawers and towards the ones he had tossed ‘her’ clothes into. Her clothes, as in the collection he and Nitocris had somehow pulled when she was asleep. The dresses were far more unnecessary than anything Gilgamesh had tried to toss her into, far more suited for sitting in the middle of the desert and ruling over subjects from giant triangles or however he ruled. 

She was still learning about the man’s culture, finding the symbols to be both creative and creatively a waste of time. 

_”Rulers have no need to concern themselves with time. Time, at its essence, is eternal.”_

Whether he simply knew she was not human and was instead a being created for eternity or he simply spoke from the perspective of being a servant of the grail, she wasn’t sure. But there had been no doubt in the man’s eyes that he fully believed what he said. He simply knew. 

Time was. 

As were they. 

“You should dress properly today!” The man declared. “We shall train amongst the people and enlighten them on the powers that we have combined together!” 

“I was thinking about studying.” 

“You studied yesterday,” he stated, his smile faltering. At this point, there was no doubt in her mind that the man was the sun. His disappointment was that of the clouds blocking out the sun. 

She had learned just about nothing from studying the day before. No doubt from being distracted by the man playing with the sphinxes using a laser pointer and from the symbols on the books being impossible to read without long hours of focus. Hakuno shook her head at him. “I really would like to be able to just get done with the reading material that you gave me, Ramses. I think it would be better to know what exactly is required of a pharaoh before we get too into-“

“Insolence, I’ll hear no such thing.” He waved a hand dismissively. “We shall go train in the morning and then I will work with you upon the last hours of illuminance in this world to marvel at the language of my people.” 

Hakuno pulled the attire from his hands. “You’re sure I can run in this?” 

“There is no need for incessant running when you are working alongside a pharaoh!” 

There was. 

There was a lot of running. It didn’t matter who the hell was at her side. 

Hakuno held the skirts as she yelled to Ozymandias, watching the pharaoh helping the others with the training session. She could see Gudako nearby, panting and holding her arm to keep the bleeding to a minimum. 

“Rider!” Hakuno called out to him. “Let them have it!” 

She could see those golden eyes flicker to her, the smile blinding a moment before he was laughing, beginning his noble phantasm. She didn’t waste time watching the man attack though. She rushed to Gudako’s side, waving to the red uniformed woman nearby for assistance. 

“She is wounded.” 

“I think we can see that,” Hakuno told the woman. “Berserker, do you have-“

“You may call me Nightingale.” 

“Nightingale then,” Hakuno corrected. She motioned at the bag the woman held. “Do you have bandages?” 

The woman nodded. “We must get that arm examined in Chaldea. There is better equipment.” 

No doubt there was. There was probably a whole damn lab or eight of equipment for this kind of thing, but they were in the training grounds, as Gudako had dubbed them. The woman was bleeding out on the ground and, if they didn’t do something, it could be worse by the time they made it to those pristine labs. 

“Let’s sterilize and bandage it for now,” Hakuno ordered. “If it isn’t bad, then we’ve done what we need to. If it is, then we can at least make sure it doesn’t get infected.” 

Something in the woman’s eyes shifted. She nodded before opening her bag and pulling out a bottle. 

“Hakuno, I swear, I have wronged you something fierce in this life and the last,” Gudako moaned. “I’d rather bleed out. Don’t-“

“It will stop hurting in a moment, master,” the woman promised. 

Hakuno turned to the others as Nightingale handled the whining master. Looking at them all handling the remaining hands they were fighting, Hakuno could only recall a couple’s names. 

“Nitocris! Support Ozy! Thomas!” 

The lion headed man roared as he charged ahead, slamming into the enemies and barreling them down. She could see the man’s mane blow in the wind as he rose up, those eyes gleaming in promise of retribution for the enemies daring to attack them. 

“You’re fine,” Hakuno breathed, turning her attention back to running to command Ozymandias and Nitocris. She could see the man struggling against these monsters, his attacks weaker than a couple days ago. Nitocris was helping, but her power was so much weaker. 

She glanced back at her master and almost contemplated if that had anything to do with it. 

Probably not. 

The pharaoh cheered upon the collapse of the final hand, rushing towards her in a whirl of white fabric. She could see the purple and gold hair waving in the wind a moment before she was engulfed, a second set of arms soon wrapping around her as the two laughed loudly. 

Somehow, there was always laughter ringing in her ears. 

“A pharaoh is always triumphant!” Ozymandias declared. Hakuno had to keep her gaze averted from seeing the grin on his face. “Nitocris! Is my master not the most suited to me?” 

“Thank for your assistance,” Nitocris told her, bending slightly so they could see eye to eye. The jackel-eared woman smiled at her. “You are truly one of us, my pharaoh’s master.” 

The two blinked at her, a laughter kicking up now that was louder than the last. “AH! Nitocris! Behold her humbled state! My master’s face burns at such flattery!” 

Nitocris was now grinning more, cupping her hands and leaning forward. “You are a wonderful master! A pharaoh in the making! You’ll be commanding the masses and bringing peace to Chaldea and the singularities in no time at all!” 

“We shall call her a pharaoh from here on out,” Ozymandias declared. 

“Right!” Nitocris beamed alongside him, making Hakuno spin around. 

“There’s no need for that! I am not a pharaoh!” 

“It is true, you have not ruled a land, but you are a pharaoh now. Embrace it.” Ramses threw a smile her way and she felt her face burn further. It wasn’t right, these complimentary pharaohs and their insurmountable praises. They lofted praise like they breathed, and just as often. 

“Gudako,” Hakuno called, trying to distract herself from Ozymandias’ increasing amusement. The red-head was whining softly to Nightingale and her other servants, all but sprawling out in Thomas Edison’s arms when the great lion-faced man lifted her over his shoulder. 

She could feel Ozymandias wrap his cloak around her again, grinning over at Nitocris and chattering on as though he never had the time. Hakuno found herself pulling the cloak close, holding up the skirts of the dress she was in so she could catch up to the others. 

“My arm is aching,” Gudako complained. 

“You wounded yourself trying to throw a rock and getting blasted by one of the hands,” Hakuno countered. “You need to know when to fight and when to pull back.” 

“But Hakuno,” the woman whined, “it hurts.” 

“I’m sure it does.” 

“Hakuno,” Gudako whined again. 

Hakuno glanced over at Nightingale. “Do you think that the wound is serious?” 

“It was a grazing, but it bled more than I had expected,” the woman explained. “She will not even require bedrest. The wound will be healed within a few days. A smaller bandage or glue will allow it to heal properly.” 

“Bandage or glue,” Hakuno told the red-head. “You’re fine.” 

She earned another moan in response, the woman leaning against the servant’s shoulder that was holding her. She sulked, as though such news was merely inconvenient. 

This was who humanity had decided should defend them? 

She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or sigh at the woman’s behavior, no doubt brought about from being around these servants too long. Having as many as she did and doing as much fighting as she did, it no doubt left a lot of impressions upon her personality. 

“You’re so cold, Hakuno,” she whined. 

Perhaps Gilgamesh had been a bad influence on her as much as these servants had influenced the woman before her. She had to think about that a moment before smiling to her. 

“Would you like to sit with Ozymandias and I and read Coptic?” 

She was still learning, but it’d be nice to have company. Someone other than the servant who played with his cats and went into long odes to his people and his world. She’d been around him for only a few days, but already she knew he was yet another person who grew bored easily and required attention constantly. 

“That sounds so boring. Come gamble with the rest of us tonight instead.” 

“Gamble?” 

She wasn’t entirely sure how to gamble. Although, to be around some of the other servants and have a chance to interact with them sounded interesting. 

Gudako grinned, “Gambling, Hakuno. Come place bets and gamble against the house. I happen to be an excellent gambler.” 

Nitocris was murmuring to the pharaoh at that, eyeing her worriedly. 

Was there something more to her gambling? 

“I-I’ll join,” Hakuno told her. 

“Excellent! I’m holding you to that! We are gambling together tonight!” Gudako whistled towards the two pharaohs. “You can both come too! Gambling in the dining hall! It’s high stakes. Vicious truth questions, stripping, you name it! I won’t take no for an answer!” 

Oh god. 

Hakuno glanced over to Nightingale for help, but the world around them was already returning to normal. 

“Go wash up,” Gudako instructed, patting Thomas Edison’s shoulder and bouncing on her feet. “This is going to be good. I need to go distract Da Vinci and Mash and then we’ll do this.” 

“I’ve never gambled before, Gudako.” 

“Then this will be even more fun,” she replied. “I’ll be nice the first round, but after that- well, I’m a woman who doesn’t coddle where there doesn’t need to be coddling. Much like yourself, I take pride in a certain set of principles and coldness. There’s a time and a place, right?” 

She nodded, not really sure how going hard on a beginner related to not babying someone who had a slight scratch on their arm. 

No doubt, it was her being around the servants too long. 

No doubt at all. 

Gudako was already rushing from the room though, spinning her second in command around and whisking her off with some excuse. The servants around her kinda hesitated, having thought the training would be longer. 

She had thought the training would be a bit longer. 

“Again?” 

Hakuno glanced over at Nightingale. “I don’t have your command spells if something goes wrong.” 

“We shall be fine,” Thomas Edison declared. “Allow the woman her time. Let us go again!” 

She really should be getting to one of the libraries, to see if she could find anything about gambling. Better yet, she could have been trying again at one of the computers. The impossible machines and their mechanisms were not helpful for learning though. She’d probably end up crashing it. 

“Can we Da Vinci?” Hakuno called to the woman behind the rayshift room glass. 

She earned a thumb’s up from the woman, finding herself soon enough with the group back in the training grounds. 

A selection of hands stood before them and Hakuno sighed. 

“Alright everyone,” Hakuno looked at her group and nodded. “Just like last time, watch each other’s backs and don’t do anything stupid.” 

The group went charging. 

“And that’s something stupid,” she looked over at Ozymandias, the only one who hadn’t charged forth. “Are they always this gung ho?” 

“They do at least make a sight, do they not?” The man’s smile made her stomach react oddly again. Hakuno found herself smiling despite herself, watching them all begin to fight. 

“They do.” She grinned at him. “They may need a stronger pharaoh amongst them though.” 

The man roared into action from her side, leaving her to follow in his wake. 


	4. A Gambler's Admission

“Again!”

Hakuno held onto the wall of the rayshift room; dress torn, feet sore, arms and legs threatening to give in to the inevitable end. She looked over at Ozymandias, finding the pharaoh raising a hand and simply throwing that smile in the group’s direction. 

“Lion! Do not fatigue my master any further. She has done enough!” 

The man was once again saving her from overwork and stress. Her arms happily went to him, wrapping around his waist as the pharaoh motioned them off. 

“I think a bath and bed sound so nice right now,” Hakuno told him, letting the others leave with merely a nod in their direction. 

“You have agreed to a game of risks with Gudako this evening. Have you already forgotten?” The pharaoh brushed her bangs back, almost looking bored. 

The man had a point. 

Gambling when she was exhausted wasn’t a great plan though. She didn’t want to play games of chance like this. 

“You said that you have never gambled before,” the pharaoh offered. 

“I haven’t.” 

“This will be good then. New things. You may find that you enjoy the practice. It is something other than the reading and studying to do.” 

“That’s true. I’m still showering first.” 

The man nodded, motioning her into the hall. She could feel his hand lacing with her own, holding her to his side as they walked. His thumb skimmed over the back of her hand, his gaze going to the windows. 

And they just walked like that, through the hallways with him guiding her. 

It was strange. 

It was very strange, finding herself merely on the tail end of endless praise and then having times like this where nothing was said at all. She was still trying to get used to silence, still trying to take in being present with someone without having to fill the air with small talk or bickering. She didn’t even hear complaints that often. 

Yet the man still climbed into bed with her at night. He still insisted that she remain with him. He argued that he needed to watch over her. He needed to protect her and make sure she remained well. 

“Ah, Arash!” The man continued to hold her hand, speaking to the servant that was walking the other direction. The archer smiled back at them, turning his attention to the pharaoh. 

“I was delivering something for Mash to Da Vinci. What is it?” 

“We are dining like the rulers that we are this evening! My master is going to try her hand at a game of luck with the contractor of this place and her collection of servants! Join us.” 

“We dine like rulers every night,” Arash pointed out, shaking his head, “but I’ll spend some time in the lounge with you both this evening. It might be fun.” 

Hakuno saw the man’s eyes drift to her hand in the pharaoh’s and she felt the pharaoh pull it up to his lips, grinning after he kissed it. 

“Excellent.” 

Excellent? 

Her eyes were still on his face as he glanced her way, the tugging smile on the man’s face doing nothing to clear out the exhaustion-based lack of thinking. At their gazes locking with one another, she found him pressing his lips to her hands once again. 

“Problem, Master?” 

“I need… I need to shower.” She pulled her hand away from him, walking numbly passed the archer with a quiet farewell. She could hear the man laughing at her reaction, talking a little more to Arash as she turned the corner. 

She’d felt her face warming at the feeling of those lips on her hand. 

It was loneliness talking to her. It made the pharaoh much more appealing. It made the pharaoh seem like he was far more interested than he was. He was simply her servant, taking pride in someone giving him time and patience. Her time with him was how all masters needed to spend time with their servants. Gudako would become better in time, if she tried. 

“Hakuno!” 

Oh, but seeing him right now was not a great plan. She’d get far too caught up in those eyes again. She’d hold his hand or- 

Yeah, she needed to just head to their room. 

“Hakuno, halt your misdirection before you end up somewhere I cannot bring us back from!” A hand wrapped around her waist, hauling her up into his arms before she found herself face to face with the pharaoh. “Is there something bothering you?” 

“What?” 

“You are going in the wrong direction,” the pharaoh pointed out, nodding at the hallway. “You are going in the direction of the more violent servants. The direction you want is the other hall connected to the one we were in.” 

“Oh.” 

It sounded lame from her lips. ‘Oh.’ The man simply smiled at her reaction, letting her down and taking her hand back into his own. She could feel him once more begin to stroke her hand and she had to stop herself from merely asking him to carry her back. 

She wasn’t a child and she wasn’t injured. 

There was no need to ask to be back in his arms. 

All the hallways blended together with him holding her hand. She could see the mountains pass at least a dozen times before their room was before her. She could hear the pharaoh telling her that he was going to wander out to talk to Arash a bit more before dinner. 

“I shall return to escort you to the dining hall soon!” 

Her body jumped a bit at the sound of the door slamming shut. She looked behind her, sighing at the man being gone. 

She was infatuated. 

Months alone in space, combined with endless silence after endless noise, left her longing for companionship. 

That was it. 

She peeled off the dress she’d ruined, tossing it on the desk chair before she entered the bathroom. The sound of the water hitting the walls and floor of the shower was therapeutic. The feeling of the cool tile beneath her feet was a harsh reminder of reality. At the end of the day, things were like this. She was alone. She was needing to find her own path and move forward. 

Eventually, she’d find her golden-haired servant again. 

The bathwater was a good distraction though. The smell of the soaps and feel of the steam were a nice change from the anxieties and stress she had gone through while working with all of the servants. Her back pressed against the tiled walls of the shower, mind flickering through all of the fighting. 

Truly, she had a wonderful servant for teamwork and cooperation. Ozymandias, despite his loudness, was more than happy to assist with things. He worked closely with Nitocris. He laughed and egged on the others. 

Still steered clear of Nightingale, but she couldn’t blame him. 

The man was talented, knowing how to encourage the other team members and laugh off the stress. The golden and superfluous personality that the man had merely swept others up, tossing them from one set of trouble to the next in the battles. 

Actually, now that she was thinking about it, she’d never seen him lose his temper. Never seen him go off on anyone. 

Was it possible? 

Trying to imagine the brunet even scowling felt wrong. The man’s face was always so close, invading her personal space as the man merely laughed and danced around her behavior and desires. Those golden eyes in the evenings would look straight into the depths of her, brushing her hair back and holding her as though she were something immensely valuable. 

She had quickly gotten so accustomed to the feel of him holding her-

“Hakuno?” 

Hakuno jumped, hearing the man’s voice over the sound of the water. Her hand went over the knob, turning off the shower quickly as she heard the man’s voice. The water was cold. She’d been in too long. 

“Just a minute, Ramses!” 

A laugh and she could hear the man settling into a seat. 

Her eyes drifted around the room before she stole one of his robes, tying it into place as she ducked out of the bathroom and went to grab one of the Chaldea uniforms. 

“If you require rest,” Ozymandias began. 

“I’m fine.” She shook her head at him. “I’ll just play a round or two of this game of Gudako’s and then we’ll come back so we can rest.” 

The pharaoh nodded. “Wise. Gambling is a vice to which many become quite enamored with. It would be dangerous for you to become indebted to someone merely because of the joys of a game.” 

“I don’t know how to play so there’s no real opportunity to become addicted.” 

The man simply stood up, moving to help her dress before heading to the bathroom himself. Wherever the gold scarf and formal attire came from, Hakuno found herself changing to match him. 

Because naturally a master and servant should match. 

“Hakuno,” he held out his arm. “Come on, we are running late.” 

They were. 

Hakuno’s arm slipped into the man’s own, her free hand picking up the skirts of the dress and sighing. She was just going to wear the uniform. It would have been fine had the man simply worn his usual outfit. 

It’d be easier to argue if she could just figure out how she always ended up just giving in to what the man wanted. 

Instead she found herself arm and arm with him, listening to him declare to the heavens and all that they would have fun before this night was over. They’d enjoy good company and games that would make them laugh endlessly. 

Well, it was different. 

Hakuno stared at the dining hall, seeing the changes in the tables and the lower lighting. She could see Gudako laughing at the servants around her, pulling round chips towards herself. Of course, her laughter died the moment she saw her, waving excitedly. 

“Hakuno! Come here!” 

“It would seem I have to go.” Hakuno pulled her arm from the pharaoh’s and hurried over, settling in on the other side of the table. “I promised just a round or two of this game.” 

“You gotta have something to gamble with,” Gudako told her. “Whatcha got?” 

“Myself. You know I came here with nothing more than Vimana and myself.” Hakuno rolled her eyes. “If you really want, I’ll gamble with some of your chips, otherwise, I might be done already.” 

The woman waved her hand, shaking her head. “Your money’s no good here anyway. I cost you a lot. I have a great debt due. Let’s gamble with secrets.” 

“Secrets?” 

“I’m sure you have a few. We’ll make it simple.” The woman was shuffling the cards faster as she grinned. “Any time you lose, I ask a question and you must be perfectly honest with me.” 

“Fine.” 

The woman set down cards before them both and turned over two of hers. “The goal is to get 21 for this game. No higher or you lose. You want to get closer to 21 than me.” 

“Okay…” She had a two and a five. “Give me another card.” 

The woman turned the next card over. A six. 

“Another.” 

A king. 

“Ah, excellent. With your king, that makes it over twenty one.” Gudako grinned. “Tell me, do you hate me? I kind of put you in a bad spot and you have every reason to hate me for taking away-“

“I don’t hate you.” It wasn’t worth hating her for something she hadn’t meant to do. It had been an accident. Burning him? Well, he did have an attitude. She wouldn’t blame the woman for merely doing what so many others would have done in her position. 

“Awesome.” 

Another round. 

Another loss. 

“Do you miss your former servant?” 

“You mean Gilgamesh? At times. Ozymandias has helped.” 

Another round. 

Hakuno sighed in relief as she won, looking over at the woman. “Do you wish you could spend more time with your servants?” 

“What? God no, we spend plenty of time together.” Gudako motioned at the room, where the others were either eating or gambling themselves. “They’re entertaining themselves. I don’t need to chase every servant I summon to this place. I just need them to not hate one another.” 

Another round. 

Hakuno found herself losing again. 

“Have you had sex with a servant?” 

She felt her face warm. “I-I thought about it.” 

The words went down dangerously well. She could see the woman concentrating, the woman looking over the cards and murmuring to herself. 

Each game was worse than the last. She found herself losing faster, cards useless against the woman. Somehow, the woman was always near 21. She was always turning over her hand to show another winning round. 

More questions came: 

Where was she from? 

What did she like about traveling on Vimana? 

How did Vimana run? 

“It runs on arrogance,” Hakuno joked, watching the other frown at her. 

She thought she was funny. Clearly the woman lacked a sense of humor. 

Another round was lost after that.

“What do you think is Ozymandias’ best features?” 

“I like everything about him,” Hakuno told the woman. “Deal again.” 

More questions came her way, with no ending in sight. The more she lost, the more she found herself getting embroiled in trying to win the next round. She didn’t want to give up just yet. Hakuno asked about the clothes, to which she admitted she enjoyed the feel of them. She asked what her thoughts were in regards to the space cats Ozy had. Hakuno had to correct her in saying they were sphinxes and that they were as cuddly and precious as any other cat she’d ever seen. 

Deeper and deeper into the games she went. 

Hakuno found herself looking over to Ozymandias for help, waiting for the man to come to her aid. The pharaoh was cleaning out his table, laughing a little at the others despite his gaze drifting from time to time in her direction. 

If he could just help her win! 

He remained at his table, chatting away with Arash. 

“Would you have sex with Ozymandias if he was up for it?” 

Hakuno stared at the woman in shock, thoughts frozen. 

“Hakuno,” Gudako fanned herself with her cards. “It’s just a question. I couldn’t help but notice your attention keeps being drawn to him all evening.” 

“Ask a different question.” 

“Oh no. I want to know,” she argued. “You were the one that agreed to this. Sex with the pharaoh? You spend a lot of time together. You’re learning as much about him as possible. You hold his hand in the hallways and you sleep next to one another. So the question is: would you have sex with Ozymandias, since you’ve already told me you have never done so before with anyone.” 

She could hear the chair scrape, her eyes closing as she waited for him to make it to her side and tell the woman off. Ozymandias would have had enough with this. He wouldn’t be interested in knowing the answer. 

Gods, but she was taking too long to answer. She groaned. 

“Hakuno-“

“Yes.” 

Gudako stared at her, pausing from her card shuffling. 

“Yes, I would,” Hakuno told her, motioning for another round of cards to be thrown down. “Shuffle the damn cards.” 

“I find it interesting that you are so intrigued with my sexual behaviors, Chaldean.” Ozymandias was right behind her. The man’s voice was so soft, so very quiet. “To think you would force my master to confess such things in public.” 

“W-we were just playing-“

Hakuno felt an arm wrap around her waist as the pharaoh settled into a seat across from the woman. He motioned for the deck, earning it without question. 

“Rams-“

Ramses handed her his cards, handing a pile to the woman before himself. “Prepare yourself wisely, contractor of Chaldea.” 

Hakuno stared at the cards in her hands, feeling the pharaoh leaning in close. 

“We don’t need this one,” the man murmured to her. “This one as well, it can go.” He pulled the four and six from her hand, leaving the king, ace, and ten of diamonds in her hand. 

Gudako set her discards down as well, motioning for them to draw. 

The man’s lips pressed against her cheek, his mouth going to her ear to murmur to her. “Go ahead and draw for me, kitten.” 

Oh that wasn’t a good sign. She drew the cards without hesitation, adding the queen and jack of diamonds to their hand. 

Gudako drew as well. 

“It has been question and answer as the game’s bets, has it not?” 

Gudako nodded to him, taking the game far more seriously now since the pharaoh had joined. 

“I will raise the stakes to a question and a bottle of wine then.” 

“I’m too young to drink,” Gudako told him. 

“I know that you have. Do not play games with me, child.” 

“And what do I get if I win?” 

“I will, naturally, allow you to have your choice of something from my collection of jewels.” 

“Deal.” Gudako grinned, putting down a hand, a couple of eights in her hand. “Show me to the pharaoh’s goods, my king of kings.” 

The man laughed. “Show her, Hakuno.” 

Hakuno put down the collection, making the woman wheeze. 

“Where is your wine collection?” 

Gudako motioned towards the other room, staring at the hand. “…That shouldn’t be possible. I counted. Where the hell did Billy’s teachings go wrong?” 

Counting? 

Had she-

Hakuno felt herself being thrown over a shoulder, the pharaoh moving into the kitchens and looking through the cabinets for a moment before he found the bottles of wine. He checked the labels of them all, humming to himself before he picked. 

“Ozy.” 

“Our conversation would be best in our chambers, master.” 

“Ozy!” 

She needed to explain. 

How she would explain? She wasn’t sure, but she would figure it out. She was good at figuring things out on the fly. She just needed him to stop for a moment. She just needed him to wait. 

They were back in their room quickly enough though, the man setting her down on her feet. 

“Ramses,” she tried again. 

Those eyes were locked on her though, the man backing her towards the wall and leaning in. His mouth pressed against her own, moving slowly. An arm was moving around her waist, his head tilting as she felt him teasing her. 

There was no other word for it. 

His mouth took hers so fully, but she could feel him pulling back when she’d respond, almost pulling away only to kiss her deeply again. She found herself holding his scarf, her mind blanking for a moment. She didn’t need this shit. She didn’t need him teasing her. 

She held onto his front, trying to deepen and keep the kisses deep. She needed more, wanted more. Her mind was focused on the way he seemed to warm her up, the way he seemed to wrap his arms around her, soothing over her concerns and worries. He had a talent for making the world slip away and leave nothing else but the two of them. 

In all honesty, he drowned her in his praises and attention. She couldn’t think around him. 

Her sound made him pull away, his forehead pressing to her own. 

She watched those golden eyes drink her in a moment before finding her murmuring to her softly. “You are not ready for this.” 

“What…” 

“It is admirable, seeing you say such things to the other master and before the other servants, but I will not do this with you. You are unprepared for this.” He pressed his lips to hers again lightly and Hakuno stared up at him in disbelief.

“I’m ready-“

“You are holding me at bay with your hands.” 

She looked down, seeing her hands pressed against his chest. Sure enough, her hands were pressed squarely to him. She hadn’t noticed. 

"Pay it no mind." He smiled that distracting smile in her direction. "When you are ready, when you confess to me and me alone that you would like me to show you the joys of the bedroom, you merely need to ask. You will find that you waited for good cause, with fate itself knowing you would enjoy the comforts of my embrace." 

She couldn't help the shiver at the memory of his kissing her. He'd no doubt be very interesting in that regard. 

“The other master will leave us be for tonight. Tomorrow possibly as well.” He waved the bottle in his hand. “Would you care for a drink? We can enjoy the sphinxes and the strange box of plays that this place is so fond of. The television,” he explained, motioning with the bottle towards the tv nearby. 

The man was already stripping his jacket off, leaving his shirt undone and chest exposed as he settled onto the couch near the television. She could still feel her heart racing, her eyes drinking in the sight of him. 

It was dangerous, thinking about Gudako’s assumptions and what her mind was still telling her to do with the pharaoh. She could still feel those teasing lips against her own. 

Her whole body felt warm. 

Hakuno nodded. “A full glass of wine, if you don’t mind.” 

It would be a long evening, especially learning against him like that.


	5. Locusts

One glass of wine had led to another.

Two glasses of wine had made her pillow become the pharaoh’s lap. 

Three glasses and Hakuno felt herself laughing, holding one of the sphinxes close as the pharaoh turned on the television and praised the stale jokes happening on the show. 

Four glasses. 

Hakuno hugged the sphinx closer, welcoming the others as they climbed atop her and purred in a loud collection. Their cute sounds and nuzzling had her looking up at the pharaoh, grinning endlessly. 

“I love them.” 

“Hmm?” 

Hakuno motioned at her little pride of sphinxes. “You’ve turned me into a cat person. They’re warm and they’re sweet and I love them. I could sleep right here for the night.” 

He laughed, the sound echoing around the room as he leaned over her. She found herself drowning in those golden eyes as the pharaoh as he came in close. 

“They are indulgent creatures. I knew that you would be as fond of them as I. They are quite taken with you as you are with them.” 

“I love them,” she told him again. 

“You are intoxicated,” he observed, that smile of his growing a little. “Who would have guessed that you would be so inclined to be so open with your emotions when inebriated. You are very cute with your flushed cheeks and open nature. You may continue this behavior when sober as well. I will allow it.” 

She pressed her face into his lap a little more, nodding. “I like you too.” 

“Hmm?” 

She shook her head. 

“My little master, you and I have already discussed the situation. You were coerced into saying what you said before. I will not be enjoying that manner of a bond with you until you are ready. Until then, you may rest upon me and worship your pharaoh as you see fit.” 

The sphinxes were purring louder, cuddling closer now. The needy things were settling in and she didn’t need to bother with his words. 

Her eyes drifted back to the television instead. 

Her comments drew more of that laughter from the pharaoh. Her droll, almost bored looks made him wheeze in his merriment. Hakuno found herself pulled into his arms and hugged to his chest, the man insisting upon more commentary. 

Every time she looked over at him judgingly, he roared in another round of delight. His head leaned against hers, the occasional soft press of his lips against her neck could be felt… or perhaps her wine was making her imagine things. 

The room did tilt from time to time, her head a cloud of vagueness as she continued to watch the shows with the pharaoh. 

She drifted a hand through his hair, enjoying the sound that he made. This oddball cat lover sounded no different than his galaxy colored felines. 

“You have made us stay up until the television shows of the other servants have returned,” the pharaoh told her finally, clicking the device off and hoisting her up into his arms. “It has been a long time since I have laughed to such length. You are welcome to drink endlessly with me, Hakuno.” 

“I’m so sleepy.” 

Another laugh. That sound was going to be permanently ingrained into her mind at this point. She wouldn’t be able to leave this room without hearing the sound. 

“Rider…”

“Ramses. I have informed you to call me Ramses,” he bid, pulling the sheets back and settling her on the bed before climbing in himself. “You admit feelings and cannot call upon me informally. What am I to do with a master such as you?” 

Hakuno rolled over to press against his chest, listening to him as he gave a softer chuckle. 

“You wound me with this much amusement, Hakuno. My chest feels as though I have spent the whole evening enjoying your humors. I shall permit you to rest for the day, since you have entertained your pharaoh.” 

“Thank you, pharaoh.” 

“Ah, no.” The man turned her head up towards his. “We say, ‘thank you, my Ramses.’ Try it. You will find the name rolls off of your tongue with an ease that no other has done before.” 

“Thank you, Ramses.” 

He nodded, kissing her nose. “There is still much training to be done with you, my master. I shall have to appeal to your good taste and your sensible interest in me to assist in conditioning you to be a proper master for me. It will take time, I am sure…” 

His voice went on as she pressed closer to his chest, feeling that warmth. 

Gods, but he was warm. 

The muscle and strength were nice to lay next to, nice to feel holding her as she slept. His face pressed against the top of her head and the arms that were wrapped around her made it feel as though she were something important, something vital to the pharaoh. She enjoyed the atmosphere around them, the ease and positive sound of his voice as he babbled on and praised himself about something else. She’d probably have something to say if she were listening, but the sound was enough for now. 

Her eyes closed. 

Dreams came and went in her mind’s eye. 

Pyramids and sand filled her vision. 

The sands rose from the ground, creating great storms and clouds of sand that swept through the city streets and forced the people to close their windows and doors. The stands around the city streets would close, covering their wood containers of produce and wares so that the sand did not destroy them. 

Her vision shifted from there to another scene. 

The shouting of the half-dressed men standing with lances in hand, commenting to a white-haired man. Her chest felt lighter at the sight of him, but her feet were hesitant as the man held a fabric that was not carried by their people. It was from the lesser, those who would build their walls and their tombs so precisely. Yet, after a moment, she moved. She could feel herself moving over to their side, motioning the guards away. 

The man looked to him, speaking although no words reached her ears. He glared at her, shaking his head as he tried to argue more vehemently. 

What was wrong? 

Why was he this way? 

Hakuno tried to ask him to repeat himself, to say something, but she could feel her lips moving to say something else. She could feel herself grab for the man’s shoulder and feel the man push her away. He turned for the doors, his glare cutting straight through her. 

The world changed again. 

Her heart felt so heavy in her chest, the headdress she felt on her head weighing like an anchor as she tried to fathom the view she was coming to see. 

She could see the skies over the pyramids darkening, a swarm of locusts heading for the palace. The sounds of a thousand insects were filling her ears. 

Dread crept into her soul at the sight of them. 

A woman stood nearby, talking about something before she found herself pulling the woman inside. Her hand pressed lightly to the woman’s enlarged stomach. For some reason, she was so much taller than usual. Her eyes drifted to her hands, wearing Ozymandias’-

Hakuno opened her eyes, staring up at the canopy overhead. Her mind was racing as she tried to calm herself. 

“Arash! You should join my fellow pharaoh and myself on our next training venture!” The pharaoh’s voice was as loud as ever, her gaze drifting over to where the pharaoh was eagerly speaking to the archer and Nitocris. 

The woman pharaoh was fixing her makeup as Arash muttered something, grinning sheepishly. 

“Nonsense! My master and I will not hear of any of these excuses! We shall pave the lands with our enemies and dine as the victors that we are!” 

Hakuno just shook her head at him. 

Always in a good mood. 

Well, perhaps not. 

What the hell had she seen in those dreams? What was it that had come to her mind when she had closed her eyes? 

The pharaoh had not mentioned anyone like the man she had seen in her dreams. The woman had to have been his wife. 

Oh boy…

“Ah, your master is awakening.” 

Hakuno flinched at Nitocris’ words, finding the woman moving over to her and leaning over the side of the bed. Her hair curtained the others from view. 

“Good evening, Hakuno. Did you sleep well?” 

“I slept fine, thank you.” Hakuno glanced around her over to Ozymandias, listening to him chatting happily to Arash. 

“You were tossing and turning for a while. I was worried.” The jackal-eared woman settled at her side, rubbing her back gently. “I had considered using some of my magic to help, but the pharaoh said that you would be fine. You were simply having an interesting dream. I am glad that he was correct.” 

An interesting dream…

No, that hadn’t been an interesting dream. That had been a collection of memories that didn’t seem to be going over well. She needed to find out more about the servant she had at her side. With Gilgamesh, she’d waited until he had drunk enough liquor or become in the mood for such conversations. 

However, that didn’t seem to be something that Ozymandias was going to do. 

If anything, he seemed livelier than ever. His attentions went to the door as Iskander entered, the king of conquerors waving her way before settling in and joining the eager conversation. 

With the other pharaoh comforting her, Hakuno tried to think. 

All of the heroes that she had seen or had came with their own legends and stories. Some of them were more renown than others, but it was merely the length or severity of their rule that made their stories so great. There were things written about most if not all of the servants. 

Which meant that there were texts or an epic somewhere for Ozymandias. 

“Nitocris?” 

“Yes?” The woman paused in her comforting. 

“I was curious if you could help me learn more about the pharaoh… Ramses.” 

“You could ask him,” she offered. “He would probably be more than happy to describe his life for you. He is a proud pharaoh, after all.” 

Her mind drifted back to the pharaoh’s hand on the woman’s belly, the feeling that had drowned her upon the sight of those bugs heading in their direction. She could feel the man’s reaction to that white-haired man that had come to the palace doors. 

She couldn’t ask. Not about this. 

This was something she needed to understand for herself. If she was going to have him as her servant for any length of time, then she needed to know what had happened. She needed to understand more about the pharaoh’s life so she could be a better partner in battle to him here. 

Servants deserved respect. They deserved understanding. 

She had known not to say the clay being’s name with Gilgamesh. She had known what it did to the king to be reminded too greatly of his only friend. She’d allowed him his time to mourn the loss, despite the years and adventures that had gone by. 

Enkidu had been someone that’s life had hung heavy in the king’s heart. 

This man that Ozymandias had turned the guards away from had felt similar. He had importance, although she could not understand why. 

He had value. 

And what the hell had those locusts been? It had been like a mass of noisy green, heading in their direction and swarming upon the city as she had pulled that woman away. She hadn’t seen what had happened from there, but…

Oh something bad had happened. 

How the pharaoh laughed with that memory in his mind was beyond her. 

“Hakuno?” 

Hakuno forced a smile for the caster’s sake, shaking her head. “I think I want to learn a little more before I ask the pharaoh to explain. Do you know where the library here in Chaldea is?” 

Nitocris shrugged, offering a hand that she more than happily accepted. 

“My pharaohs!” Nitocris called over to the three. “Arash. I am going to take our mage to the library. She seeks to learn more about our history.” 

Ozymandias and Iskander raised their glasses in response, preoccupied with their own conversation still. Arash bid them good luck before Hakuno was following the woman into the halls. 

They moved without a word, their direction as sure and pointed as when the pharaoh himself led her through these halls. They went passed the dining hall, waving to Gudako as she played cards with a handful of servants. They moved passed a training room, wincing as the knights of the round table tackled one another without their armor on. 

“Hakuno!” Gawain waved her way. 

She waved back as she continued passed. 

More doors passed, Hakuno found herself already becoming lost again, already wondering what she should do if she couldn’t find her way back to the pharaoh’s room. 

“Here we are,” Nitocris opened the doors and motioned her into the messy room of texts. Endless texts, some in cases, some behind thick glass. Some were bound in leather while others stood as great stone scripts and text. She could see an image of Enkidu and Gilgamesh in the corner, a thick book sitting before the large sculpture. 

Another tablet was nearby, showing the same kind of writing, but a couple women who looked oddly similar to…

“The writing about the pharaohs is this way,” Nitocris pointed out, leading her to another corner of the room. They meandered around a glass jar with a locust in it, earning a shiver as Hakuno saw it. 

The woman paused, glancing to her and to the bug. 

“Ah, I see.” 

“Hmm?” 

Nitocris motioned at the bug. “You share the same distaste for insects as my fellow pharaoh. He refuses to go into any room that possesses any insects at this time. He also avoids the medical chambers, as I found when you were unconscious and cold.” 

That was not a good sign. 

“Come,” Nitocris pulled a leather-bound set of parchment from the shelving and showed it to her. “This is what my master found when learning more about the pharaoh. She put the texts together into one parcel so that others could read about the pharaoh if we found him again.” 

“Thank- oh.” Hakuno stopped from thanking the woman, staring at the text. 

Random birds and feather looking symbols and other scribbles met her gaze. 

Nitocris nodded. “You are welcome. If you have need of me-“

“Can you read this?” 

“Of course,” she told her. “It is our language, after all. I should know the great words of the pharaohs since I have ruled over my people just as Ozymandias has.” 

Hakuno handed her the texts. “Can you please, please read this to me? I would read it myself, but I don’t know a single word of this. It looks like pretty pictures to me.” 

“Pretty pictures?” 

Oh, that was probably not the best phrasing, was it? Hakuno shook her head. “What I mean is, the writing doesn’t look like anything I know. I don’t want to stare at a page for the entire evening and be confused. If you could spare me a few minutes with your talent for reading this gorgeous language… You are a talented pharaoh, after all.” 

She smiled, looking around a moment before she took her hand and led her over to an armchair covered in dust. 

“This is an unsuitable place for reading, in my opinion, but it shall suffice for the pharaoh’s tales. You may sit upon my lap and enjoy the lesson. I promise to be very thorough and proud in my regaling of the life of our pharaoh and king, Ozymandias. Please let me know if my voice loses some of its dramatics. I do not want to lose some of the emotion through fatigue.” 

Hakuno let her sit on the chair alone, sitting on the floor before her and motioning her on. 

“My lap-“

“You are fine, Nitocris. Please… I would like to know more.” 

Nitocris hesitated, shifting to the floor as well and pulling her close. 

“You will be expected to learn this writing so please pay close attention. I shall move my finger along the page so that you may come to see some of the words of the pharaoh and how they look in our language. If you find you become comfortable enough, I shall let you read.” 

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Nice thought though. 

Hakuno nodded. 

“Alright.” Nitocris pointed her fingers to the first lines of the text. “The tales of Ramses the third are closely related to the story of Moses. Ah- Hakuno,” Nitocris paused at that, chewing her lip. “You must promise not to judge our pharaoh too much from this.” 

“I won’t. Please. The pharaoh is my partner,” Hakuno told her. “No matter what this says, nothing will change that.” 

“You swear to me, upon the image of Ra and Hathor?” 

“I swear to all of your gods and what they stand for,” Hakuno vowed. 

“…As I said,” the pharaoh continued, still scowling a little as she read. “The tales of Ramses the third are closely related to the story of Moses…” 


	6. Water Lilies and The Unspoken Brother

Hakuno held the text in her hands as she meandered through the hallways with Nitocris later. Her heart just could not stand another word of the documents she held so tightly to her chest.

Gilgamesh had hurt. 

Gods, but Gilgamesh had hurt. Being brought to his knees in terms of emotions, torn from his one and only friend because of a woman who had paraded through men being upset that he would not falter to her. The gods had given him a friend only to tear them from his hands, sending him into misery and mourning. 

The king had refused to speak the being’s name. 

Oh no, Ozymandias was worse. 

Descriptions had been far, far more interesting. The person who had written this text had not been fond of the king. They had described him as a follower of Set. A god whom, to Nitocris’ hesitations, was revealed to be one of mischief and chaos. They had described a child whom loved their sibling, but…

But. But. But. 

She had heard it with every description of love for the brother, whose name was never mentioned. She’d started to read bits and pieces as Nitocris slowly and painfully went through the writing with her. She knew that Nitocris was not holding back from telling her the name. It was merely that the name itself was not mentioned. 

He loved his brother. 

But. 

He and his brother were thicker than thieves. 

But. 

What was there missing, she had wondered. In her mind’s eye, she could already tell it was going to be that white haired man from her dreams. The one that she, as Ramses, had gone to spare from the guards. She knew something was going to happen. 

However, the dread had gotten the best of her. An overwhelming urge had begun to form as Nitocris painfully got her through four chapters, four very long and very painful chapters, of this text. The foreboding in the text and the unfair description of the king who laughed and teased her endlessly had been too much. 

She’d asked Nitocris if they could stop. She had held the text to herself and refused to part with it. 

She’d learn to read more and she’d find out the truth in time. 

Asking, that was out of the question. Whatever had happened would have been equivalent to what had happened with Gilgamesh and his only friend. Perhaps worse, since her dread at the sight of the locust in the library had been so great. 

He was so happy though! 

Hakuno wrapped her arm around Nitocris and leaned against her a little, closing her eyes as she tried to think. 

“Hakuno?” 

“Give me a moment.” She needed to just mindlessly walk, letting someone guide her. She’d be thinking straight in a minute. Maybe two minutes. 

“There you both are!” 

The deep, proud voice of Ozymandias reached her senses, her eyes opening to find the king standing before her and Nitocris. Her jackal-eared friend bowed lightly, taking her with her. 

“Forgive me, my king. We became quite distracted when Hakuno wanted to learn our language.” 

The man laughed, prattling out a handful of words that swirled uselessly around in her head. It sounded like the words Nitocris had spoken before translating a sentence into proper understandable utterances. 

“She is not that far yet,” Nitocris explained. “We understand some words. Brother. River. Home. Flower.” 

He had a tell. 

Faint, almost impossible to see, but for a moment there was a shadow in the king’s eyes. There was something that showed what that foreboding had been leaning towards in the writing. Hakuno felt her heart race at the sight of it. 

She wanted to know now. Was it the locusts? What had they done to the palace in Egypt? Had he lost his wife that way? Was his brother some kind of evil mage or foreign dictator? Had he become a god and wiped out the world around Ozymandias? 

What was it? 

The laugh was back though, the pharaoh shaking his head. “I see. We shall soon have you speaking like a proper pharaoh then, my master!” 

“We will!” Nitocris agreed wholeheartedly. 

“And what is this?” Ozymandias reached for the texts, making Hakuno turn away. 

“I-I didn’t want to lose our reading. I thought maybe you could teach me words and then I could practice reading with these.” 

Another shadow came over those eyes, or perhaps calling it a flickering behind that gaze would be more accurate. Whatever the case, he didn’t believe that. He was suspicious. 

“…Perhaps it would be better to learn with the texts more directly, my kitten? I often worked with my wife on such things. She was so inspired by the viziers’ retelling of flowers and lands far from our own that they would visit. I indulged her a great deal.” 

What happened to her, Hakuno wanted to ask. She had been there with him when the locusts had come. She had been so close. 

Damn it all, she just needed to know. 

Nitocris was distracting the pharaoh with conversation about the training grounds though, making him turn away from her and the thousands of burning questions that were fraying at her patience. He seemed to laugh here and there, nodding and going on about this and that. The boastful words and references to her made her falter from speaking. His buoyant attitude, like a damn sun with how much he seemed to just glow with pride, made her tongue remain still. 

Soon. 

She promised herself that. 

Soon, she would read through the rest of this. She would find out what had happened after the pharaoh had found the beautiful Nefertari, as the writings she was holding described. She would learn what had happened to the pharaoh and his happy brother. 

“What do you think of this, Master?” 

Hakuno blinked, finding the pharaoh looking at her once more. “What?” 

“Nitocris was discussing for us to train together tomorrow. We can once again enlighten our allies on the strength of our relationship.” 

“Of course.” 

Ozymandias’ response had her stomach fluttering for some reason. Gods, did he have to be that pleased about it. “There you are, my pharaoh. Once again, my master and I are of the same mind.” He laughed more. “It is truly a rare and wonderful experience to have someone so wise as my master. We shall dine like the pharaohs we are this eve and show our strength and might at dawn!” 

And there Nitocris went, cheering and praising him like the god of the sun he seemed to be. Her waist was held by the man as he guided them towards the dining hall. Gudako smirked her direction, winking until Nitocris went to declare the intentions. 

An entire day, nonstop, of training at the highest difficulty. 

They had done half a day with her and she’d been pooped. Gudako was already looking faint at the prospective of once again training with her servants. She was looking around in alarm for her more powerful servants. 

No doubt, she’d probably find weaker ones to train and call it quits early with. 

In her position, Hakuno probably would have done the same. This all-day training was exhausting. 

Which made her wonder why she was so eager to run the pharaoh ragged… 

Why would he want to push himself to such lengths? Why, when he could have done so many other things, would he choose to spend all his time fighting and pushing his limitations? 

She ate sparingly. 

Honestly, it was hard to focus when her mind kept drifting to the pharaoh at her side talking and laughing up a storm. Every time she looked at him, there was one more question. 

Had his adornments come from his wife? From his brother? What had his brother been like before whatever that had happened had happened? Had he truly loved his brother? Had he truly been working or close to the god Set? 

Had he really loved his wife so much? What had happened to her when the bugs had come? Why had the bugs come? What was on his mind when there were no fights to have and no people around to entertain him? Did he have interests that not even his brother and wife had known? 

Question after question plagued her, pulling her into a state of madness. She found herself leaning against his side, an arm wrapping around her before she felt him give a softer chuckle. 

“My master must be exhausted,” he informed the others at the table in his loud voice. “Truly, I have been blessed by the goddess Hathor herself. My master is learning my language and reading of my home. Soon she and I will no longer require using this language, for we will be able to speak the language of pharaohs to one another!” 

A couple servants rolled their eyes. A couple others looked to one another and then to Gudako. 

The red-head was vacating the dining hall as quickly as possible upon that note. She would be no doubt hiding from her servants a bit until they had forgotten that statement from the pharaoh. 

A useless gesture, since he’d probably brag about it forever. 

“My water lily of a master,” Ozymandias purred, “let us return you to my bed. You have been so quiet that I cannot help but to think that your mind is revolving on how best to use what you have learned.” 

She nodded, pulling her texts into her arms once more and moving to stand up. 

He wrapped his cloak once more around her shoulders, guiding her towards the doors and laughing at some joke being told at another table. 

“Inventor! You are funny!” He declared to Edison. “Speak to me of your folly once more tomorrow as we slaughter through our enemies!” 

A roar of approval came from the man. 

Clearly, Gudako was in for it tomorrow with training. The inventor was a glutton for endless fighting. 

Ozymandias walked her through the hallways though, his gait leaving no doubt that he owned this place. This metal walled facility for saving humanity, filled with heroes and characters of great strength and power, were merely pawns before his might and pride. The pharaoh walked as a man who could part the very sea, the waters apologizing for being in his way. 

They moved into the bedroom and Hakuno went directly to bed, depositing the writing at the bedside drawer before she curled up and closed her eyes. 

The bed dipped, arms wrapping around her waist as she felt his face press against her neck. 

“Speak to me, my master,” he murmured. “You have been quiet enough for all of Egypt’s former glories to rise from their pyramids.” 

“I want to learn more about you,” Hakuno told him. 

The words just spilt out of her before she could stop them. She could feel him tense behind her, the silence ensuing. 

What else could she have said? 

The burning questions had consumed her dinner, stolen away her appetite. She wanted to know more, forgetting about everything else for a time so she could just- She just needed to know. 

For the sake of knowing, she supposed. 

The pharaoh turned her body to face him though, leaning his forehead to hers as he stroked her hair. Those golden eyes filled her view, calling her focus to him and him alone. 

“You, my kitten, do not need to concern yourself with such knowledge. My tales, although great and astounding, lack the…” He paused, trying to think of how best to phrase himself, no doubt. 

“You had a wife,” Hakuno stated. 

“I had many. Even more children too.” He pulled her hands into his own now, kissing them as they remained close to one another. “You should have seen them, Hakuno, my clever master. They were smart little things and my wives were always so proud. In my time, a man went through many wives, but I left not a single one to want for anything. They bore my children with a pride so great that it made my reign and my godliness seem no greater than a candle about to go out.” 

Those lips pressed against her knuckles, his hands stroking her so gently. 

“I loved them, a few more than others, mind you, but I am a man. I cannot help the great favors that befall any human. Fairness is not real in this world or any other. I favor you to the other master, despite the other master’s great capabilities to hold so many servants. I favored my wife Nefertari more than any of my other wives.” 

“Tell me about her,” Hakuno begged. 

The texts had mentioned Nefertari. She had read about him meeting her. 

“Ah, Nefertari,” Ozymandias chuckled. “She was beautiful. Classically, timidly beautiful. She shied from me at first, unaccustomed to that of a man wishing to be with her.” The pharaoh was moving in closer, those eyes smoldering as he spoke. “She had looked at other men, but I outshone them. I said to her, do not compare me to them. Look upon me, tremble, but not in fear. No, let your eyes fill with the light of my power and strength and know that there shall never be a moment where you wish for more. Know that I will spend every moment, every flicker of your time in this life, seeing to your happiness and radiance.” 

He spoke the words as though he were speaking them to her. 

A heat filled her person, her face leaning in a little more to press against their hands that still held one another. 

Oh, but the pharaoh was good at that. 

He was good at driving her to think about things and about him in ways that defied her expectations. All she could think to do was lean into him and hold onto him with all her might. She merely wanted to remain right here and learn more. 

“I took her to the Nile,” Ozymandias continued, rolling her until she lay with her back to his chest once more. He toyed with her hair as he described his wife. “I let her play upon the riverbanks and watched her catch the water lilies in the skirts of her dresses. She had long brown hair much like your own, the beautiful color catching the evening skies’ colors upon it. Golds and reds, deep shadows and great lights. I purged the sorrows and anxieties of the world using the beauty that stood before my eyes. I lived to see her smile to me, to come forth and present me with her captured blooms and the occasional frog.” 

“Frog?” 

He chuckled, kissing her shoulder. “Have you seen a frog before, my master?” 

She shook her head. 

His hand traced along her waist, “ornery creatures of Set’s, to be sure, but they were amusing. She would catch one from time to time, thinking herself amusing. She would bring me her lilies and then, when I went to praise her with my affections, she would hold the slimy beast to my lips and giggle away at me. Childish? Indeed, but I could not help but find it amusing. She was an endearing woman.” 

Hakuno shook her head, leaning against him a little more. 

“I shall see if we can go to a training ground where frogs exist,” Ozymandias declared. “I shall show you the slimy fiends so that you may judge them for yourself.” 

A scratching came from the other door a moment before Hakuno saw the pharoah’s staff wave. The door to the room opened, a collection of the sphinxes storming into the room and climbing onto the bed. She could feel them all but flopping unceremoniously onto their sides, scooting until their small bodies were pressed against them. 

Here and there, a few mewled for attention, earning a pat as the pharaoh waved his staff for the door to close and returned his staff into nothingness. 

“Maybe we can find a way to go to where you ruled at one time,” Hakuno offered. 

“No, let us not do so.” Ozymandias held her closer. “Although another time in my lands may be suitable, my own was far from safe. I would rather not see what became of my land shortly after my passing. Allow me to remember my home as it is preserved in my memory. All I wish to imagine is how beautiful my wife, Nefertari, was. I wish only to remember her holding her dripping skirts and presenting me with yet another token of her affections in the form of a flower.” 

“You don’t want to try to see her again?” 

“To see her again would be to see…” He pressed his lips to her temple now, shaking his head. “Rest, my master. Rest and we shall train with the fiercest of this place’s warriors. Let us train them to be proper fighters for humanity. Allow me to fill my eyes and my mind with you, rather than of sands and memories.” 

Who was he avoiding? 

Was it his brother? 

She closed her eyes, willing herself to try to sleep. Asleep, she held the chance to see the answers to all of this. Asleep, she had a chance to learn the truth. 

What had he done to Ozymandias? 

“Good night, my master,” Ozymandias murmured. 

“Good night, Ramses,” Hakuno replied, allowing the last of her consciousness to fade. 


	7. Darkness

_Darkness._

_Darkness reigned over his land._

_Like the might of the sun itself, the darkness loomed over his land and his people. It filled every crack and crevice, every corner and every room. It consumed both the palace and the world around it. It held no bias. It held back for no man or god._

_It filled all, cold and calculatingly. It seeped such chills onto the soils of his world. It clouded every torch’s light, hiding every enemy within its shadows. Had a servant of Set himself been afoot, they would have required no hood or guise. Their movements, much like their wickedness, would have been seen only in the final moments. They would have been caught by their victim in that second where fear and the promise of death itself pierced the chest of a pharaoh._

_All that could be heard in this abrasive abyss was sound. Great sound. The guards were yelling to one another. Torch after torch was being called for. They began to create a spiral of them, or so they said._

_Ozymandias could not see anything in this. The bed to which his hands touched, was invisible to his eyes. The room, normally immersed in the glow of one torchlight, was plunged into nothingness. Not even the great jackal head adorning the head of his bed could be seen, even with eyes that seemed to always gleam in some manner._

_“Ramses…”_

_A chill pierced his spirit at the weak sound of that voice. His arms, moving immediately to the bedding around him, found his wife, pulling her close to himself._

_“It would seem that someone has blown the torchlight out, my lotus blossom,” he murmured._

_“Do you think it has something to do with-“_

_“No,” he told her quickly._

_There was no considering this amongst his brother’s words. His brother was confused, naïve. He was caught up in a dream of grandeur, having listened too much to the slaves in their kingdom and stood amongst the sunlight for too long. The heat had consumed his good nature. It had boiled his mind until he had merged his knowledge of their gods into one, single entity._

_As though one god could bear the burdens of humanity._

_“Ramses, I can’t see you.”_

_He pressed his lips to the woman’s forehead, a little lower than intended, but it worked. He felt his way to the edge of the bed and tried to remember the directions to the doorway. He was grateful that he and his wife had not become distracted with one another for once. Their attire was still on, their floors free of their linens and a stray cushion or two._

_He opened the door, finding only more darkness._

_“Ramses?”_

_“Soon, my sweet,” he told her. One of the sphinxes was rubbing against his leg, nudging him in a direction. Thankfully, it was one of his taller ones. His hand buried within that fur, allowing the beast to lead him._

_The blind leading the blind, he thought. Whomever had done this to his palace would be killed. He’d bury them beneath the piles of locusts lying at the edge of the city. He’d let the remaining buzzards and scavengers that remained to eat those bodies have their pick of the responsible party’s body._

_They had struck fear into the heart of his Nefertari._

_They had forced her to experience discomfort in this manner._

_No citizen, no true citizen of his kingdom would do such a thing. His beloved Nefertari had committed no sin. She had wronged no soul. The very essence of her smile was the embodiment of the sun itself. The very breath she took was a blessing to the world around her._

_And yet, someone had done this to his beloved._

_“Ramses,” Nefertari called to him again._

_“You are well, my sweet. Do you feel your precious kittens leading us?” He forced himself to be stronger for her, to be positive and loving for her. His body burned and hands longed for the heart of the one responsible, but her voice was his anchor. She was his reasoning._

_Pulling her hand to the sphinx, Ozymandias allowed his sweet wife to pet one of the beloved sphinxes, the one that was guiding them._

_“I know not that causes this darkness, but the very guardians of the underworld are leading us to safety, my flower. With their help, the three of us shall be in the light shortly.”_

_The light was a handful of torches, done in an endless circle, almost allowing no entry and allowing very few to remain in the light. There were more circles of this nature being created, but one had to step into a second of darkness to reach another circle of light._

_The torches did not illuminate enough._

_He called for more oils, more wood. They needed to burn enough that they could see once more. They were inside. No one could take the light in this manner. No one could force such nothingness upon him._

_Yet the darkness persisted._

_His love, his world, giving him a son amongst the very depths of darkness._

_He slaughtered the midwife that claimed it to be an omen. Other murmurs surrounded him. They spoke ill of his wife. They spoke ill of his son. He silenced them._

_He was forced to walk amongst the darkness to cleanse himself to even see his sweet wife and newborn son._

_The weight of this evil pressed upon his shoulders, pushing him further and further into the depths of the abyss._

_“Ramses,” Nefertari held their baby, so weak from this process. “Ramses, I’m so tired… The servants cannot find much food in the palace because of this darkness.”_

_“The light will return soon,” he promised her._

_But her paling features and strained face plagued him._

_His sweet wife could not handle another of these vengeful actions…_

_His brother was going to kill them all at this rate._

_Turning to his guards, Ozymandias motioned them to follow him. They headed towards where the doors would be, once more having to rely on the great cats of his palace to guide them._

_”My pharaoh, where do we head?”_

_”To Moses,” he told the others. He would tell the boy of his folly and insist he return at once._

_May the gods allow the fool to see reason this time._

Hakuno stared up at the great jackal head above the bed as she woke up. Her body moving a bit close to the man at her side without a second thought. 

She stared at the surrounding darkness, her heart leaping into her chest at the sight of it. 

They needed light. A lot of light. 

Her hands went to the lamp nearby, flicking it on and sighing at the glow that came forth. In fact, she found herself rolling to her other side, turning that light on as well. 

The golden light seemed to reflect off the treasures in the room, making her breathe a sigh of relief as she moved back into the arms of the pharaoh. Her face pressed against his chest, her person shivering a bit from the chill in the room. 

Heat. 

Warmth. 

The dream- no, the reality of those memories had been too strong. It had been like a true nightmare. His wife trapped in that darkness. He had been forced to listen to the old midwife’s talk of doom and evil once the babe had been born. 

Gods. 

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her body didn’t have the strength for the embrace he needed. His mind, as filled with the horrors of that single moment as it was, could not truly fathom the depths of despair that the man had been in. 

“…Master?” 

Those golden eyes were blearily looking down at her, one of his fine brows raising a bit as a smile formed upon his face. 

Always, always smiling. 

There was no situation where this man would not show his positive nature. No torture or pains to which he could not hide with the radiance of that smile. 

But she could feel his hand wipe at her cheek, his body rolling onto his back so that he could pull her onto his chest. 

“What is wrong, kitten?” 

What was wrong? 

She wanted to tell him exactly what was wrong. Exactly how evil Moses had been. She wanted to tell him what she had seen and how much she hurt. The implications of how bad those words the midwife had spoken would have been received for his son’s life. How others may have looked at the boy, finding out he was born amongst that darkness of a god’s wrath. 

But the words would not come. The expression of those feelings and thoughts rolling through her mind were impossible to get across to him. 

Her face pressed to his chest and she wept. 

Wept as soundly as when she had witnessed Enkidu die. 

To this man, his wife’s suffering had been just that. It had been a death, death to all that was good and whole within him. The depths of his emotions had overtaken her. 

She had wanted to hold Nefertari in her arms and tell the woman that things would be okay. 

She had wanted to burn the whole of the pharaoh’s home just to illuminate the woman’s world for a moment. 

Her heart had been ripped and torn apart by that cold darkness, forced to endure the sounds of her screams with no manner by which to know how she was faring. 

Hakuno could feel the pharaoh pulling her a bit closer, the blankets moving around her shoulders to cover her a bit more. She could feel him rubbing her back and her shoulders, murmuring to her that all was fine. He murmured comforts to her, as though she were in need of such things. 

“R-Ramses…”

Her face was turned up towards the pharaoh, a smile forming on his lips as he kept their faces close to one another. His warm touch was wiping away more tears, his smile more radiant than ever. “Listen to you speak my name so lovingly,” he purred. “A nightmare, my master. Whatever is the matter, it is nothing more than a nightmare. You are with your great pharaoh, your own god of the sun and light.” 

Her tears were coming harder. There was no helping it. 

“Shhh,” he murmured. “My gentle souled spirit, be still. There is nothing that a pharaoh cannot right. You are here with me. The lights are on. The world is at peace. Do not look at me with such sadness. Do not allow such sorrows to fill you.” 

He was stroking her cheek, pressing his lips to her nose and forehead. Those hands of his moved to capture her own hands, burying them within his hair when she did not cease her crying. 

“Look at how strong you are,” he exclaimed, “summoning a pharaoh such as me to your side. You precious flower, you have summoned a sun to help you prosper. You have an endless source of strength and guidance to call your own.” 

Someone who could close the windows to a mass of insects attacking. 

Someone who could beat out the darkness and allow his wife to never fear. 

She had an endless source of strength, alright. She had someone who was too good, too gentle. It was overwhelming to have him and know what he had managed for his wife and no doubt his people. All because his brother had been…

Hakuno leaned up, pressing her lips to his. 

There was no hesitation on his part. His hands moved to cradle her face. His body rolled with hers, pinning her to the bed. 

“I have told you, master, that I will not-“

“I don’t want to be cold,” Hakuno breathed. Her eyes drifted up to his surprised gaze. “…I had a nightmare about a darkness that wouldn’t go away.” 

A collection of light seemed to gather in the room. Endless beams of light, illuminating from nothingness and going straight to the floor. She could feel the pharaoh’s staff in his hands at once, but he held her to himself, kissing her with such emotion that she let herself be swept up and carried away in the feel of it. 

She clung to him. 

He doted on her. 

Affection after affection; she could not count the number of times she felt him press another kiss to her person. She could not fathom the amount of soft murmurings he gave, telling her that she would never experience darkness. She would never suffer. 

“You are my master, are you not?” He breathed, pulling himself from kissing her soundly on the lips once more. “Believe in your pharaoh! Believe in what I say to you. You shall never experience a darkness that I cannot expel. You will never experience a pain that I cannot heal away.” 

“I know…” Hakuno nodded to him, forcing herself to take a shaky breath. Her forehead pressed to the pharaoh’s. “You took such good care of Nefertari. If you treat me half as well, then I’ll be okay.” 

He hesitated at her words, leaning into her touch as she stroked his hair. 

“Thank you, Ramses,” Hakuno murmured to him. 

She wasn’t sure what else to say. 

When they went to fight enemies later, she would do her best to supply him with as much power as possible. She would do her best to get stronger, gather more mana and increase her strength. 

No. 

They would do that together. 

The two of them would manage to gather more strength and help with saving humanity like Gudako did. The woman could no doubt use the help. The pharaoh, after working so hard to save his people and wife from the bugs and the darkness, would probably enjoy saving others. The heroic nature of him was so great, so impossibly bright. 

Ozymandias’ laugh rang in her ears, those lips pressing to her own again. 

“I have not seen this look in your eyes before, my kitten. I am proud that I awakened on a personal whim though. The look in your eyes right now, the soft touches; you are truly like the great sphinxes, aren’t you?” He was back to stroking her cheeks, wiping away any tearstains that persisted on her face. 

She smiled to him, earning another laugh. 

“A stray kitten, untrusting of my hand and now purring in my arms. I was indeed correct on coming at your call.” He pulled the blankets over them once more, forcing her to lay in his arms. “But we have promised our strength tomorrow. Your meager light fixtures may remain on, but I should rest my power.” 

The lights faded to only the lamplight. 

“Rest,” Ozymandias told her. “There is still much time for rest. I know that you must still feel the need to sleep.” 

“Tell me about the sphinxes more,” Hakuno countered, “and the gods in your home. I don’t want to go back to sleep.” 

There could have been another horrible memory on the pharaoh’s mind. He had lost Nefertari, one way or another. Either through her death or the death of himself. He would have mourned no matter which way it had gone. He would have suffered so deeply… 

No, better to hear him speak proudly of his home for a while. 

“The sphinxes, I do not know everything about,” he confessed. “They are the creatures of the gods, after all, bound to no singular one. They come and adore us, but I am their pharaoh! It is only appropriate.” 

She nodded, cuddling closer to his side. 

He went on, boasting and grinning away as he described the kittens and the adults. He spoke of the cosmos and the sphinxes in the universe at large. Holding the world within the depths of their fur, he told her, guarding the gates of the underworld to protect those of the living and those of the departed. 

“No one truly dies,” he told her. “We feel their warmth and their love around us whenever we close our eyes. We can always look to the sphinxes and know that they are well cared for and awaiting to meet us again in the afterlife.” 

The words echoed in her head. 

The peace and the quiet in the room continued. 

Within the pharaoh’s chambers, Hakuno felt a bit more of herself lost, handed over to the ancient king without hesitation as she glimpsed just a bit more of his golden heart. 

Her gaze met those smoldering golden eyes as she finally fell back asleep. 


	8. Death of the Firstborn

_The cries were silenced._

_He could hear them stop out of nowhere. He could sense the Osiris and Anubis coming up from the depths of the underworld. Anubis had their hands on one of his palace members. The god was more of a sensation, a crawling beneath the skin._

_His beautiful wife, face stained from the misery she had been put through, opened her eyes._

_Her hand went to her chest. Her eyes focused on the jackal head above their heads, to the fine gold of their bedframe. He could almost see all the plagues that had run through their home running through her mind. Water that was blood, frogs, lice, flies, boils, hail and fire, locusts, the darkness; they echoed in his mind as well._

_“…Ramses…” Her voice was so weak, as though there were more. It was as though she could sense death at their palace._

_“I am here,” he told her. “I’m right here, love.”_

_But she wasn’t wanting him. She wasn’t truly needing him. The only whole part of his heart left him. Her body fled from their bed like the animals from a disaster. Her feet flew across the floors like the mightiest of birds sailed across the skies. There was no attention minded to him. There was no bothering with him._

_And something in him made him remain. His arms were covered in the pox of apprehension. His mind was whirling wordlessly around whom had been taken by Anubis._

_He’d been warned._

_He had set guards around the room, even in the room. He had made every single precaution._

_‘No one can stop God,’ his brother had said._

_The scream rang out through the palace._

_His blood ran cold, changing to ice like the Nile had turned to blood._

_His body became like stone, his heart breaking far worse than his love’s could ever have broken. For it was not just for his son that he mourned._

_His wife was wounded. His brother was gone._

_“We have found them,” the guards told him, remaining near the door._

_“Let them leave,” he told them. “Tell that vile bastard to take whom he wishes and get out of my sight. Whatever he wants, let him take it.” He raised a hand as he said that though. “Tell him, if he remains when the sun is at its peak, I fill find him. I will never forgive him for this.”_

_The guards nodded._

_He was left alone._

_Alone in his empty room. Alone without child. Alone without his wife’s smiles and good nature._

_Why?_

_Why had he insisted upon hurting Nefertari? What had she ever done to him? She had accepted him as a brother. She had loved him as he had loved the man. There was never a moment where she had lacked faith in him. There was never a moment where she had so much as entertained a cloud of negativity towards him._

_Moses, the great brother to him._

_Moses, the one who had helped her be able to love Ramses and be with him._

_Moses, the monster that had stolen away the world from him in a series of plagues._

“Master…”

She couldn’t breathe. 

“Master,” a set of arms shook him, pulling her from her dreams. Her eyes opened to the golden ones above. Her arms wrapped around the pharaoh immediately. Her face pressed against his chest as she rolled them over. 

“Ramses,” Hakuno breathed. 

The man laughed a little, as though that were such a natural response to her actions. He held her close, sitting up against the headboard in their room. 

She clung to him, unable to process anything more than this man needed comfort. He needed company. No, he needed- deserved so much more than that. She wasn’t sure what she could really offer, but Ozymandias deserved it all. 

Hakuno held him tight, refusing to move as the man rubbed her back. 

“What is this, Master?” 

She shook her head. 

“If it was a nightmare, know that you are with the god of the sun,” he purred. His arms held her tighter to him. “I shall let nothing happen to you. You are my master, after all.” 

He would do whatever he could not to let anything happen to her. Gods, but he would give whatever he could to protect what was important to him. Somehow, she found herself wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaning up to kiss him. 

A moment of hesitation happened. 

Then she felt him kiss her back. Those lips moved against her own, knowing and experienced. He turned them over, pressing her against the bed as he trailed a hand down her person. She could feel the shiver that went through her. She could feel anticipation building. 

“This is too soon, Hakuno,” he breathed against her lips. “I do not mind, but you are in the throes of a nightmare’s spell. You should be-“

“What do you want, Ramses?” 

He blinked at her. 

“I keep seeing your memories,” Hakuno breathed, looking up at those eyes. “I keep seeing Egypt. I…”

The man was pulling away, but she held tight. 

“Don’t.” 

“I do not require pity, Hakuno.” 

“I know. I know. I just- I get it. I understand.” Hakuno shook her head. “I don’t want to give you pity. I just want to be here for you. I am your partner now. We’re together in whatever we do from here. I don’t want to have you lose anyone else, Ramses.” 

“I only have you to lose,” he told her softly. 

“Then I won’t be lost,” she promised. Hakuno looked around, seeing his charcoal stick nearby and stealing his hand. There was no professional artwork to be had, but she drew a mimicry of the command spells onto his hand. “There.” 

“What’s this?” 

Hakuno pressed her lips to his palm, right on the other side of the hand sporting her command spells. “They won’t work like mine do, but you’re my partner. You’re my servant and, now, I’m yours. I don’t really do being a master very well. I care too much. So now you’re my master. You get three command spells.” 

There was a moment. She merely closed her eyes, kissing his palm again. 

This was a king, someone who was used to power. He had ruled over Egypt. He had run his household. By being in control, he had managed to save Nefertari from almost every single plague’s effects. She had been protected from bugs and from the darkness that she feared. 

He would have saved her from the last if he had just been able to do magecraft. 

“It is unorthodox,” he told her. 

“I know.” 

“I am a demanding servant and more so as a master,” he warned her. 

“That’s fine.” 

She had seen how he had been with Nefertari. She had felt those depths of emotions, how he had simply drowned in misery at the very sound of his son dying. There was nothing that this man could do that would bring her harm. There was nothing he would do that would endanger her. 

“Then with my first command spell, I would like for you to kiss me,” he demanded. 

There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation. 

Hakuno reached up, wrapping her arms around him once more and kissing him soundly. She pressed her body to his, finding him holding her close and laughing a little against her lips. 

Those golden eyes gleamed as they separated. 

She panted a bit. 

“I shall save my last two spells,” he breathed, “but… You should not dream of my past, Hakuno. There is nothing worthy of being seen from back then. No hopes and happiness to be found. My past is full of mistakes and regrets. Any joys were swiftly stolen, any light quickly extinguished.” 

“You had Nefertari.” 

He stroked her hair gently, nodding a little. “This is true. I had my Nefertari and she was a beautiful light. But it is as I said, all lights were extinguished. Anubis came for my Nefertari when she lay at my side. Just as he came for everyone else I loved.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You weep,” Ozymandias murmured, stroking her cheeks. “You weep so deeply for things that were far before your time. They are gone, all of them. It is my task to build new goals and new dreams. I am a pharaoh. Where I go, I must lead my people, whomever I find.” 

She nodded. 

“And you? You have spent so much time here. You have done so much training with these Chaldeans.” 

“I want to stay and help fight,” Hakuno told him. 

“Oh?” 

Hakuno nodded. 

In the end, the groups here needed all the help they could get. Gudako was a good leader and she had mana, but she was too silly sometimes. Having a second master would mean they could go farther and last longer. It would mean that there would be two sources of mana. 

“Stay and help me,” Hakuno murmured. 

“I am your servant, Hakuno.” Ozymandias shook his head. “I would remain to help you, even if it was not in my own interest.” 

“Thank you.” 

It was all she could say. The man held her in his arms for a while, stroking her hair, letting the silence ensue around them. There was something comforting about it, especially with the lights on. 

She would never sleep with the lights off again. 

The urge to ask about Moses was so strong. 

She longed to hear him talk about his brother, but…

It would have been cruel. The man had stolen away so much from the man. It was like asking her to talk about BB or the others at the Moon Cell. There was no need to dwell on it. There was no need to really remember that pain. 

Pressing her lips to the pharaoh’s chest, she promised herself that she wouldn’t. 

She wouldn’t bring up that pain. 

They were two people who had overcome a great deal of painful events in their lives. They were going to work together from here on out. They were going to manage to be partners, great partners. 

Hell, she really didn’t mind him touching and holding her. 

Maybe the two of them could just heal. 

“You are so quiet,” Ozymandias murmured. 

“I was just thinking how your wife was really lucky to have someone as brilliant as you with her,” Hakuno told him. 

A soft chuckle met her ears. 

He kissed her temple. 

“Ah, such flattery. I am already quite wooed, master. There is no need for trying this hard.” He practically sang the words to her though, clearly enjoying them. 

They remained holding one another and relaxing until dawn though. They changed, Hakuno into one of the Chaldean uniforms and the pharaoh into his usual attire. 

“When we’re done training today,” Hakuno looked over at the pharaoh, “I want to talk about learning more of your language and gods.”

The pharaoh laughed. “Do well and I will reward you with all of the knowledge that I possess as a pharaoh.” 

She could do that. 

Moving through the halls, Hakuno held onto the pharaoh’s hand, listening to him boast of what they would do in the training grounds. She could see the other servants gathering as Gudako hummed and looked amongst them for a team. 

“Why is it always this damn hard,” she growled. 

They shifted to the training grounds and Hakuno focused on the pharaoh. 

He was strong, but his attacks were dependent on him stopping. He had to hone in on the enemies to land his light attacks. She kept herself close to his side and focused her energies on defending him when they were on the offense. 

The other servants were good, but Gudako had chosen a lot of servants in similar situations. The blows that hit them were not necessarily ones she could help with. 

In fact, she wasn’t sure how to build a shield until the pharaoh plunged pure light before her. 

“An attack from the ground up or from the heavens down could block as well as damage,” he called to her. 

It took several attempts to manage half of one defense. Her arm was struck. Her skirts torn. She held her arm with her other arm and focused on powering her mana through her injured arm. She could aim it and strike. 

They went back, but Hakuno insisted on another round of training. 

And another. 

The servants were all for it. Ozymandias remaining close to her side as she simply wrapped fabrics from her skirt around her wound and went on. 

They would become accustomed to working with one another. 

She was going to prove herself. She was going to show what she could do. Time and time again, back to the forests of the training grounds. She wiped the sweat from her brow and her bangs from her face. Blast after blast came in her direction, but she didn’t care. 

Their enemies felt weaker each time. 

Perhaps that meant she was getting stronger. 

“Enough,” Ozymandias declared as they returned. He covered her mouth as she went to say again. “My master requires attention and a bath.” 

“Thank god,” Gudako breathed. She dropped to her knees. “I feel like I’m fucking farming for experience. You guys do you, pharaoh. I’m gonna just… nap.” 

Mash helped her to her feet, but Hakuno found herself being steered away. 

“Ramses-“

“Come with me,” he told her. 

They moved through the halls to the baths. She found him merely grabbing towels, directing her to the showers in the corner. 

“Strip, wash, meet me in the waters.” 

She nodded as he tossed the towels by the water and went to a shower nearby. 

She looked at her arm and hesitated. 

“Ramses?” 

“What is it?” 

“I think I might need a med kit.” 

The pharaoh glanced at her arm before nodded. 

She was done showering and wrapped in one of the towels when he returned. Five minutes had her arm bandaged and the pharaoh coaxing her into the regular bath waters. 

“Indulge with me,” he told her. 

Her lips pressed to his before she agreed. 


	9. Summoning Trouble

The days turned into weeks.

The weeks turned into months. 

“Ramses! Look what I found! You have a passport?” 

“Hakuno! Come here and learn the art of a pharaoh’s preparations for the day!” 

“Ramses, I can’t sleep. I’m going to go get some sweets. Do you want to come with me?” 

“Hakuno! Praise me! We are partaking in games today!” 

The world was a collection of golds and jades, deep blues and metallics. Her uniforms vanished after a time. Perhaps she’d asked someone about washing them and forgot them. Whatever the case, they were gone and she wore the dresses that Ozymandias gave her. 

She found herself settling on the pharaoh’s lap in the mornings, ignoring the sphinxes for a time while she worked on fixing the pharaoh’s makeup for the day. While she did his, he grinned and worked on hers. 

Always fun when they both seemed to finish off with eyes and would debate on who got to do the other’s first. 

The symbols in the books were easy to read now. A few words were strange and she wasn’t sure what they meant, but the pharaoh and Nitocris began to delve her into their language further. It was all she would hear sometimes. Days upon days on end, the ancient language was beaten into her head through endless conversations. 

The training grounds became another area to shout the language at the pharaoh. 

The study became a room where Hakuno could hurry and ask questions to Nitocris. How did one apologize? How did one compliment another? What words meant this and that; she wanted to get better at it. 

Seeing that grin burning as bright as the star above only made her want to learn that much more. 

She must have gotten further into bonding than she had anticipated. Seeing Gudako waiting for her and not in the morning was confusing. She slowed her steps, dismissing Nitocris before she frowned. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Rate up time!” Gudako grinned. “Time to try again.” 

“Try again?” 

What the hell was she talking about? 

Had she tried anything new recently? There was that new game with the painted rocks that Ozymandias had shown her that she wasn’t particularly good at, but that wasn’t something that she’d talked about with Gudako. 

“Summoning… Ah, nevermind.” Gudako waved a hand, smirking in her own way. “Just meet me in the summoning room. Maybe without the books?” 

The summoning room? 

“Alright.” 

“You promise?” 

“Yes, yes.” She waved a hand at her. “A pharaoh keeps her promises.” 

The both paused at that. 

“I mean,” Hakuno laughed a little. “Sorry. The pharaohs are a bit good at recruitment. I mean, I promise I’ll be there.” 

“Good.” Gudako was still looking at her oddly before turning the corner. 

Rate up… Summoning… 

Hakuno pushed the door open to her chambers, grinning a little as Ozymandias and Iskander laughed at something together. The two seemed to be in the midst of watching something on the television in the room. 

If she was going to go help Gudako with whatever was going on, then she could go now. 

Easier now than later, when Ozymandias would find that he wanted to indulge with her and would refuse to allow anything to get in the way. Again. 

Her books were quietly set on the desk in the room. A few head pats went to the lazing around sphinxes. They were such comforting beasts now that she was accustomed to them curling up with her and the pharaoh. 

She slipped back out of the room after that. 

Her sandaled feet’s sound echoed in the halls as she tried to think of what was going on with Gudako. 

Summoning room… Rate up…

Honestly, Gudako had spoken of new servants a few times. She was probably trying to get someone rare to come to Chaldea. After helping her with a couple of her so called singularities, it was understandable. 

Still…

Her feet stopped as she passed Vimana’s parking dock. 

Gilgamesh. 

Holy shit, but she’d all but forgotten her own damn servant from before. 

She’d moved on in a way. She barely came to this part of the place. 

Oh, but how the hell had she gotten to this point? 

Gudako probably had been keeping in mind that she had demanded Gilgamesh when they’d first met. She probably thought that-

She would have to explain that she couldn’t do multiple servants. 

Right. She would tell Gudako that she’d thought about it and was happy with simply being the master to Ozymandias. 

God, Gudako probably thought she hated this place and wanted to leave. 

Chaldea had grown on her. 

She hitched up the skirts of the thin dress, rushing to the summoning chambers as quickly as she could. This needed to be resolved. She needed to explain herself. Poor Gudako. 

“Hakuno!” 

Gudako grinned as Hakuno entered, wrapping a blanket around the servant she had just summoned. She murmured quietly to them a moment and motioned for Mash before turning back to her. 

“Alright, so I got a high rated servant. Clearly, fate is on our side.” 

“I don’t think-“

The woman set the quartz in her hands. “Just the one time, Hakuno. You put a little mana in there, you attempt it.” 

“Gudako, I really want to talk to you about this. We don’t know that I’ll even summon Gil and-“

The woman cut her off; “If you get anyone other than him, I- personally- will take them off your hands. We’ll switch them out before they realize who their master is.” 

“Gudako-“

“Don’t forget that I did promise this. Don’t make me break a promise,” Gudako argued. 

Hakuno glanced at the servant leaving. 

No fanfare, no tremendous joy. 

Just one more servant in this place. 

She wasn’t sure if she could be that cutthroat. 

“Gudako, I can’t do this. Ramses-“

“You’re fine!” Gudako pat her back hard. “You’re fine!” 

Hakuno sighed, staring at the quartz. She needed to find words for this. Honestly, all she had wanted to do today was tease Ramses about the newborn sphinxes and try to coax one of the huge sphinxes into picking him up and carrying him around. 

She wasn’t ready for the let down or the stress of this. 

“Come on, Hakuno,” Gudako egged on. “One try. You know what?” She hurried over to the box nearby and pulled more of those quartz out. “We’re gonna do one of those mega rolls.” 

“Gudako-“

The woman wasn’t hearing it. She was already placing the quartz down on the floor. “It took me a month to collect these,” she told her. “You gotta do the big roll.” 

_Just give me more mana,_ Hakuno thought, setting the last three quartz down and pressing her hands to the floor. This was such a bad plan. Things were good with Ozymandias. The pharaoh was turning out to be a great servant. They worked and fought on the same wavelength. She was starting to look forward to each adventure with him. 

The summoning circle began to glow. 

“Ooooh, here we go! Here we go!” Gudako was bouncing on her feet. 

Oh, but here we went. 

Sparks danced around the circle, mana shooting up her arms. Perhaps this was just a big supply of mana. She could feel more electricity like mana. And more…

“COME ON!” Gudako yelled. 

This was fine. 

A hand reached up as the circle began to close. 

A golden armored hand firmly was gripping the floor. Another hand joined it. She could see a head of blond hair rising from the circle as it fought with all its might to close. She could see the armor moving as the king climbed forth. 

“I will not be denied this time,” the man growled. 

“It’s him! AH! IT’S HIM!” Gudako danced in her peripheral. The circle was closing, the king moving to his feet. 

Gilgamesh, in all his glory, stood before her. Those red eyes were watching the woman nearby dance around excitedly. 

“YOU DARE TO SUMMON ME AGAIN, MONGREL?” 

“HAKUNO DID!” Gudako cried, whooping and hollering. “SHE DID IT! NO MORE GUILT! I DID THE THING! I DID THE DAMN THING!” 

Gilgamesh turned his gaze to her, eyes drifting along her person. “…Hakuno has never dressed in such a manner. She prefers her attire and face plain.” 

Ah, she’d almost forgot about Ozymandias and Nitocris spoiling her as they did. Hakuno shook her head a little, trying to think of what to say to the king. 

Hi came to mind. 

It was a bit casual for having him be ripped from her side. 

I missed you? 

No, it was not a good idea to admit feelings to this man. 

Already, he’d denied her identity due to the clothing and makeup. He had taken one look and let a wrinkle form on his face. 

“You’d be surprised.” Gudako bounced forward, grinning. “She has one other servant and has been allowing him to dress her up. It’s still Hakuno though. She gets mad whenever I go near her ship and she is insane when it comes to fighting. Fights right at the servant’s side.” 

The king smirked a little at that. 

Just a small smirk, one that showed his amusement before it vanished. Those eyes turned to her once more, a hand reaching out. 

“Come here, master.” 

Come here. 

As though he had not simply been gone for all this time. As though he had not left her in the deep vacuum of space…

Closing her eyes, she sighed a little, reaching for his hand. He pulled her to her feet, closer to him. His gaze moved along her person again, a hum escaping his lips as he spun her around slowly once. 

“You have one other servant?” 

“He’s the pharaoh of Egypt,” Gudako told him excitedly. 

If there were ever a time where it seemed like there was a tail wagging behind someone as they looked to someone for praise, it was Gudako in this moment. 

“I did not ask you,” Gilgamesh told the woman softly. 

“His name is Ozymandias,” the woman continued, as though Gilgamesh’s voice did not double as an unspoken threat. “Hakuno calls her Ramses though. It might be his actual name from when he was the pharaoh of his land.” 

“Ramses…” Gilgamesh glanced around the room again before humming to himself. “I’ll meet him after we rest. You said my ship is here as well, mongrel?” 

She needed to go. Hakuno shook her head at the two. 

“I-I should be getting to-“

Gilgamesh tightened his grip, gaze narrowing. “What is this?” 

She blinked. 

What was he talking about? She really needed to tell Ozymandias about this. Showing up randomly with the servant she lost was probably not the best plan. It was kind of more respectful to simply tell the man what happened-

“Hakuno speaks whatever those ancient Egyptians speak. She’s been learning from Nitocris and Ozymandias,” Gudako chimed in. 

For the love of the gods…

“I really should be leaving here,” she told them both, watching her words more carefully. 

Was she getting that bad about switching languages now? It was true she mostly spoke to Ozymandias and Nitocris, but…

“I don’t mind it, if you wish to speak that language.” 

The voice behind her was familiar for some reason. The hairs on the back of her neck were raising, gaze flickering back to the servant from before. His blanket was lowered. His face and pale hair showing now. The man smiled softly as he looked at the three of them. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but there seems to be a lack of available rooms at the moment, master. Lady Mash informed me to tell you so that you can direct me on where to-“

“Moses.” 

She could feel her face paling, her mind running wild as she tried to think about what to do. There was just… how…

No. 

“Ah, you know of me?” Moses smiled a bit more. “Do you perhaps have one of my people as a servant as well? I know Lady Mash mentioned that the master here had multiple servants.” 

She was doomed. 

“You’re mistaken,” Gilgamesh supplied, pulling her into his arms. “Do not confuse your mongrels with my master.” 

“Ah, forgive me.” The man bowed. 

“Gil, don’t piss him off,” Hakuno murmured. 

She was not going through the fucking plagues. On a list of things she wanted to do, plagues still was lower on her list than telling Ozymandias that his brother and her former love interest were both in Chaldea. 

“Former contractor,” Gilgamesh called behind her. “I will take Hakuno’s rooms, since there seems to be issues with space.” 

“Hakuno-“

“Do not talk to us again,” Gilgamesh murmured to Moses as they passed. 

He was begging for fucking plagues. 

Nope. 

She would just hide with Ozymandias or something. There was like an eight out of nine success rate for Ozymandias in that regard. Literally, the statistics were saying run to the pharaoh and hide. 

The door to the summoning room slammed shut behind Gilgamesh though. The man carried her down the hallways, looking around in a bored manner. 

“Gilgamesh-“

“Do not push your luck, Hakuno. Another servant? And you allow him more than you allowed me.” 

“Ramses was-“

“Where’s your chambers? We shall discuss this in privacy,” he declared, going ahead with talking over her. 

Oh boy…

“Hakuno? I do not like repeating myself.” 

“I… share a room… with Ramses…”

“You share a room with the pharaoh?” Gilgamesh tsked, rolling his eyes. “Then he will leave the room and remain in his bed when we rest.” 

Oh… oooh no. 

Those red eyes were narrowing on her. He was either sensing her struggle or he was merely seeing it painted across her face plainly. She really wanted to disappear. 

“You share a bed with him, don’t you?” 

“…My former servants were that way,” Hakuno muttered weakly. 

“So you let him in your bed, you let him dress you, you let him add to your plain features with his pigments and charcoal, you speak his language… Do you realize how this is sounding, master?” 

It was sounding like she was practically sleeping with him. 

“Master,” Gilgamesh tilted his chin up, eyeing her carefully, “…Where do your loyalties lie?” 

“I summoned you.” 

She had no idea where her damn loyalties lay. 

Gilgamesh had been at her side for so long. He had saved her from being deleted. He’d taken her into the universe and begun to show her what the world outside looked like. He had taken her by the hand and made her feel things, things that she wasn’t sure how to name. The man was arrogant and selfish, but she had found herself enamored anyway. 

Ozymandias had shown her mutual respect. He’d shown her how to take a step forward from the past and hold her head up towards the future. He had shown her how to speak of painful things and how to breathe life into the every day. She’d found herself fighting so hard to train with him. She had found herself fighting so hard to prove herself to him. 

She’d promised not to compare them. 

“Let me see,” the man holding her purred, moving to the wall nearby. She could feel his face leaning in, lips finding hers. She could feel him beginning to kiss her, a soft sound escaping her lips. 

She had to tell Ozymandias about Gilgamesh and then decide to do this. 

Her hands pressed against his chest. 

Gods, but the armor was only making this more difficult. He was so warm. 

Why were men this warm?! 

“Hakuno,” Gilgamesh murmured, pulling back a bit. He went to speak, but a blue and gold cane came between their faces. 

She should have stayed in bed, Hakuno thought to herself. Maybe if she had merely remained snuggled in like she had been, this wouldn’t be happening. 

Both of them glanced to the side, following the length of the cane to the man standing nearby. His brows were furrowed for once, his golden colored gaze burning as he eyed the king. 

“You are touching a pharaoh in the hallway, my pharaoh, as it happens. Release her now and I will consider this a mere misunderstanding.” 

The king smirked, raising a brow. “You must be Ramses… I don’t know whether to be amused or simply kill you for your senseless interruption. Remove your cane from my way before I shove it somewhere you’re sorely needing it.” 

She’d take the plagues now if they’d let her avoid this new mess. 


	10. Fraternity

“You would dare to threaten a pharaoh?”

“I don’t fear a mere gaudy king who cannot handle the mantle of ‘king’,” Gilgamesh purred. Those red eyes flickered to her again before a knowing smile was coming to his features. “It would seem that you are the one that my master summoned before me though…”

Oh no. 

“My master is the one you are holding. She was due to be returning to my side, seeing as I did not know where she had gone.” 

“She was summoning her former servant back, the one who was ripped from her side without notice.” 

Ozymandias was pausing at that. 

Oh, but that wasn’t good. 

Hakuno went to speak, but Gilgamesh was blocking her view now, moving her behind himself as he fully faced the pharaoh. 

“Were you aware of that? That your master had a servant that she had chosen to remain firmly at the side of and whom was torn directly from her side by the useless master of Chaldea?” 

“Of course, of course.” The man waved a hand. “My kitten informed me of this early on. I bid her not compare us, since the obvious choice of a better servant would have been all too obvious.” 

Her insides were freezing up, her mouth opening to distract Gilgamesh when the king of heroes began to laugh. 

He crossed his arms now, nodding. “It is only too obvious.” 

Ozymandias grinned. “Ah, such words from a fellow king. Have you noticed that our small master has a poor sense of taste?” 

“It was something I was beginning to get a handle on when I left. I see that you have been indulging her in your culture’s attire and charcoals.” 

“Someone who summons one so powerful should not be indulging herself in such useless garments such as those handed out in this place. The mere feel of them made my skin crawl.” 

Gilgamesh was chuckling again. 

Were…

Were they bonding? 

She wasn’t sure whether to speak up or let the quiet self-compliments being regarded as compliments continue. 

“Your ship is the one she rode in on, I’m assuming?” 

“Ah, Vimana is here then?” Gilgamesh grinned. “That will make leaving much simpler.” 

“You think it will be so simple to persuade Hakuno to leave?” 

“We traveled once, what difficulties could there be now? She has only just begun to indulge in what pleasure is. What’s more, she is still naïve. It should be a simple matter of telling her to go. She’ll listen.” 

Ozymandias laughed. 

The laughs were getting obnoxious. 

“What is it?” 

“Ah, but you truly believe that.” Ozymandias grinned. “Your master has become friends with this little master of Chaldea. She intends to help her save humanity.” 

“A waste of time and energy.” 

“True, but she has promised no less. I’m sure you have noted her stubborn streak.” 

Gilgamesh scowled, wrinkling his nose as he glanced over his shoulder at her. “You promised this? To yourself or to that useless contractor of Chaldea?” 

“Gudako is a great friend! So is Mash!” They were a bit overbearing at times, but they were used to being the ones in charge. She couldn’t blame them for that. Besides, Gudako had to reign in so many servants, it was easier to let her take the lead and feel more confident. 

“Do you have sex with my master?” 

“GIL!” 

The pharaoh laughed. “Ah, such a question. Would it bother you if I had?” 

“It would mean tearing the very memory from her mind, but it would not otherwise matter.” He smirked, “I am sure that my master would be able to be unable to recall the very touch of your hand if I so chose.” 

“Ramses, when we’re done with this, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” She couldn’t let them keep going. Moses was wandering around Chaldea and they were in a great threat for running into some very awkward interactions. She couldn’t make Ozymandias face that. He didn’t deserve that. 

“You think you are so talented in that regard?” 

“Would you care to find out?” 

The pharaoh was laughing again. 

Wha… what was he suggesting? 

Hakuno stared up at the blond, watching those eyes remain focused on him. 

“Perhaps,” Ozymandias replied. “It would be quite interesting to see what talents you think you possess. Besides, our little master has called out for me. It would be best if I indulged her, don’t you think?” 

“Hakuno,” Gilgamesh glanced over at her. “where is your room?” 

This again? 

She couldn’t have him in there and have Ozymandias in there. The standoff here was already awkward. Allowing the two to share a room with her would be like throwing a lit match on lighter fluid. She would watch the world around her burn as these two went to war. 

“Our room is down the hall. The useless contractor put us in a corner, since the rooms closer to everyone are ill suited. They are too small,” Ozymandias replied simply. 

“I will humor this relationship, only on the grounds that it does not interfere with my own intent. Hakuno knows who her better servant is. She will be wise about this.” 

“She will.” 

The pharaoh was grinning again. 

In his mind, as she could see it plainly written on his face, he figured he was the better servant. This servant before him simply just continued to bid him favor. 

Bid him favor. 

Oh boy, but she’d been around these guys too long. 

Gilgamesh pressed his lips to hers again before heading down the hall in the direction that the pharaoh had motioned. He vanished around the corner and Hakuno felt a sigh escape her lips. Her eyes flickered up to the pharaoh and she found herself facing the real problem now. 

How to tell Ozymandias that his brother, the one who had killed his first born and threatened his homeland, was now running around in Chaldea. 

“You are concerned that I will become jealous or upset about the new servant,” Ozymandias guessed. 

“I-It’s not that.” 

Where Gilgamesh had been, Ozymandias stepped forth, once more cornering her against the wall. His hand grasped hers, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles lightly. 

“Did I not tell you that there was no need to compare? You are worried senselessly about this matter. The king has noted my strength and will admirably be standing aside. I will not make him regret such decisions, naturally. His offer to present his own strengths both in our chambers and out is one that I will gladly accept.” 

Oh boy. No…

“What’s more, he will become accustomed to assisting me with you. You have become better about things, but there is still much to teach you.” 

Hakuno could feel her face burning. Her mood was falling with each second. 

“I will make him be gentle with your conditioning,” the pharaoh told her simply. “As I have been, we will both ease you into this better state of being. I have noticed that you have become much more comfortable with the finer things.” 

Anti-pharaoh dude, a voice oddly sounding like Gudako reminded her mentally. He was gonna be facing anti-pharaoh dude. 

“Ramses, I-“

“Listen to your pharaoh,” Ozymandias cooed to her, leaning in closer. Oh, but did he have to be so. Damn. Warm to the touch. She could feel her face heating up at the feel of him so close. Those lips were kissing her knuckles again and she was feeling awfully cornered now. 

Those golden eyes were doing her in. That smile was making her stomach churn. 

She was better than this. She could focus in. 

He was kissing her knuckles again. That sweet voice like silk to the senses. 

“My lovely kitten, do not worry about whatever is on your mind. Look at me. Look into my eyes and allow me to shoulder your burdens. There is no trouble that I cannot resolve. There is no sadness that I cannot shoo away. You and I have faced many foes together. These hands,” he kissed them again,” these soft, beautiful hands of yours have guided me forth through the darkness and we are here now.” 

Okay. 

Gilgamesh was easier to deal with. 

Gilgamesh she could get mad at. Gilgamesh she could at least grasp some kind of sanity. 

Where was her sanity now? 

Gone. Taken away with her will to move or speak. 

The pharaoh was pressing his lips to hers and she was losing all feeling in her legs. They were simply giving up, giving in to the pharaoh before her. 

It was unfair. 

He just took it all away and left her in this state of being. 

“Ah! Little Egyptian speaker!” 

Ozymandias tensed before her. 

Hakuno felt her face draining of color at that voice. 

She could feel the man pulling back, glancing over at the servant heading towards them. The man already had a stack of books in hand, his smile bright as he ran towards them. 

Or started to. 

The moment the two saw one another, they were both faltering. 

The smile on Ozymandias’ face was gone. His body was tensing, a blank and suspicious look coming to his face that she had never seen before. In a matter of seconds, the great man who had laughed through danger and smiled through trials was gone, leaving those golden eyes and that happy expression filled with a strange appearance. 

The man nearby, Moses, was faltering in his movements. The excitement was leeched from his person, leaving only a strange shocked expression on his face. He was like someone who had too much momentum and could see a wall coming. He clung to the books in his hand, his eyes flickering between them. 

“…What are you doing here?” 

Flat, low; Ozymandias’ voice had never reached that tone before. 

That was the tone she had expected to come when Gilgamesh was standing around with her. That was the reaction she had expected when she was finding herself with two very powerful, very prideful servants before her. 

“I-I heard the little one speaking in our tongue…” Moses looked between them. “I-I am here to provide her some further reading-“ 

“She needs nothing of the books you’ve read.” 

She was being pulled closer. 

“Ramses…”

“You never came back.” 

Hakuno stared up at him. 

“I had no reason to go back,” Moses said nearby. “I had no family or home where you were. There was no point in me returning. What’s more… my people-“

“Do not speak to me.” 

She was hauled over the man’s shoulder, the pharaoh turning away. 

“Ramses!” 

“Do not call my name. You insist there was no family, then very well. You had no family waiting for you.” 

Why did he not sound pleased with that fact? 

“I came to talk to the girl-“

“Do not speak with my master!” 

She had to cling to his shoulder as they turned the corner, her eyes seeing the man one last time in the hallway, his gaze on the books in his hands. 

“Ramses,” Hakuno murmured. 

“Do not speak to him.” 

“I know, but-“

The pharaoh put her down after a couple hallways, setting her on the windowsill. 

“You saw my memories, correct?” 

She nodded. 

“Then you know the cause of all those things? You know what he is capable of with that blasphemous god of his?” 

She nodded again. 

He pulled her face to his chest, hugging her to him. 

“It is not that I blame him,” he murmured. “Do not misunderstand. He is merely a fool who never learned. He has abandoned those who took him in, those who raised him as a pharaoh’s son. His misdeeds are forgivable as a pharaoh, but he seeks no title and abandons his true people. Our people.” 

She hugged him back. 

Her mind was drawing a blank on how to respond to that. 

Hugging him tightly, she let the moment pass, let him ease down. 

“I saw him earlier,” Hakuno murmured. “I wanted to warn you that he was here.” 

The man pulled back, tilting her chin up to face him. He brushed her bangs back, grinning a little. The light wasn’t quite reaching those eyes. 

“You sought to warn me of him?” 

She nodded. 

“You have become quite smitten then.” Ozymandias grinned a little more. “Let us not speak of this to your other servant. I imagine that he would become quite upset at the thought of his former master being returned to him with her heart given to a pharaoh. I will not sully this gift of your good graces though. In fact, you may proudly display your thoughts and kind nature to me often!” 

How was that supposed to even work? 

Hide this from Gilgamesh but show off her preference for Ozymandias often? 

“I’ll do what I can.” 

Because that made no sense. 

“We do not need to return to our chambers just yet. We have time to fetch a meal and partake in a game or two. If you would like, we could return to practicing your reading talents.” 

He didn’t want her spending time with Gilgamesh. 

Hakuno sighed. 

“Let’s just… Get back to our room.” 

Gilgamesh would be already changing things again. She could already imagine the impending fight. It would be best to simply get it over with now. She could take some aspirin and read while the two bickered about the jackal heads and the gold furnishings. 

If Gilgamesh had his way, they’d probably be scrapping half the furniture in the room. 

She sighed a bit, closing her eyes before something caught her eyes. 

A scream ripped from her throat, her arms were around the pharaoh in an instant as the memories swept back over her. 

_People screaming in terror and agony on the streets as the bugs swarmed in._

_The palace windows and doors being slammed and bolted firmly in place as the buzzing, the great sound of thousands upon thousands of bugs hovered and pounded against the doors._

A sword slammed into oversized bug. 

“What is this?” 

Hakuno could feel the pharaoh holding onto her tighter. Her face was barely able to turn to get air, but she could see Gilgamesh’s gates disappearing from near where the locust had been.

“King, it would seem that we have an enemy lying in waits in Chaldea.” 

Gilgamesh could be seen leaning over the bug, glancing at the book lying underneath it. 

“…You fear bugs now, Hakuno?” 

Those red eyes glanced her way. 

“They were one of the plagues of my time. It is out of respect for my memory that she does so.” Ozymandias motioned for him to follow, pulling her towards their room. “Come, some spirits will do us good.” 

Gilgamesh picked up the book, glancing the way they had come before he followed. 


	11. Brotherhood

She held onto him all the way to their room, where Gilgamesh had dumped a few things ceremoniously onto the floors and surfaces. The man himself moved to drape himself across Ozymandias’ throne in the room, watching as Ozymandias tried to herd her to the bed.

“You need to rest, Hakuno.” 

She’d just gotten up not that long ago. 

“Ramses, I think there’s a better chance of me fighting than resting right now. I’m too energized now,” Hakuno replied. 

Gilgamesh had been right though. She’d never had a problem with bugs before this. They’d gone through several different worlds and places together and not once had she seen a bug and reacted so strongly. 

She was getting too close to Ozymandias. 

Distance was a necessity right now. Keeping a clear mind about things was also necessary. 

She would be much more useful to him and figuring out what to do about Moses and Ozymandias being under the same roof if she kept her wits and thought about things in a logical manner. 

With Gil around, she really did have no true reason to stay other than being comfortable and having another master to talk to. What’s more, she really didn’t have to wonder about the next meal or the next place they’d rest. She was less likely to use her command spells up and lose her servants. 

“You should try to rest,” Gilgamesh agreed, flipping through the book in his hands. 

“What is that, former servant of my master?” 

Ozy’s tone wasn’t really making friends here. 

“The text that the bug dropped. Rather boring thing. Talks about the one god that a priest I once knew of was interested in.” 

“You knew a priest?” This was news to her. 

The golden haired man just glanced over at her, shrugging. “He is not worth mentioning nor contemplating. I met him while waiting to be summoned by you. His methods and his beliefs were entertaining.” 

“There is nothing entertaining about anything of that nature.” Ozymandias stepped forward. “Remove the book from this room.” 

It was almost with a pitying look that Gilgamesh glanced over at the pharaoh. He made no move to leave though. If anything, he seemed to settle in a little more, making a statement with his over the top turning of the page. 

“The room is mildly suitable, I suppose,” Gilgamesh went on. “I have perused a bit, but I have not looked deeply. I added what I felt was necessary.” 

“You made a mess,” Ozymandias complained. 

“I added what I felt was necessary,” Gilgamesh repeated, “but it is for you, Hakuno, to rearrange.” 

“You think you can merely move into a pharaoh’s room-“

“I am moving into my master’s room. You are a happenstance, pharaoh.” 

“My master has not given her blessing on these matters. You will-“

“Ramses, is it alright?” Hakuno rubbed at her head, already hating this. The two would fight endlessly if she didn’t stop it now. 

The pharaoh glanced at her. “You are sure that you want him in here?” 

Gilgamesh was perking up at that, those eyes warning retribution if she said the wrong thing. As though she had options on this matter. It was either have him in the room or listen to him complain forever about being booted aside for a pharaoh. 

Seeing him here and having him close, she still felt every bit as drawn to him as before. It was just that she could think now. He wasn’t at her side, looking at others from their tag team…

He wasn’t where Ozymandias stood so she could think straighter…

Not by much, but what was one to do? 

“I would appreciate having him in here with us.” 

Us. 

She was getting good at navigating the lingo for these two. Things were always ‘us’ or ‘we’. Anything else would be seen as insulting. 

He seemed to have that term ring in his ears enough to smile though. She found him brushing her bangs back, pressing his lips to her forehead. Those golden eyes were gaining a little bit of the spark behind them. He seemed to stand a little taller. 

Us. 

It was amazing what those little words meant to those who relied so heavily on communication. Even when they themselves didn’t think much of it. 

“I suppose if it is what my fellow pharaoh desires, it is only in my rights to permit it!” Ozymandias glanced at the items that Gilgamesh had dumped in the room. “King! Your taste is… admirable. It shows a taste for the finest. Show me how your taste in liquor lies!” 

“We’re drinking?” 

Zero hesitation at that. After all their traveling and adventures, he hadn’t been able to really indulge in a while. The armor was gone, his Sumerian robes and jewelry coming into fruition as he headed closer to them. 

The book was dumped onto the nightstand as he glanced between them. 

“Do not say that you don’t indulge in the gods’ own drink!” 

“Fool, I would say no such thing. Do not assume things.” 

The goblets Gil was so fond of were out. The liquor was pouring. 

Ozymandias didn’t waste a moment in accepting a goblet and taking a drink. 

“You should not drink before the one who gifts you the drink,” Gilgamesh chastised, smirking as he drank a little himself. “It’s unwise, considering what could happen to one of your position.” 

“Do you think mere poison could tear me from our master, King?” 

They were both grinning at least. 

“A king naturally knows when to strike and when to hold back and when to strike,” Gil purred. “Only a fool fears death, I suppose.” 

“Only a fool would feel possessed to poison that which they could kill with their own hands.” 

She glanced at the bed, considering her options. 

“Rest,” Gilgamesh told her. 

“Hmm?” 

Ozymandias nodded, placing a hand onto the man’s shoulder. “My fellow king is correct. You need to rest. A fright will shock the systems, but it is rest that will allow you to think and act clearly. If we allowed you to remain awake after that scare and after the summoning process that you underwent, you would become fatigued before any real battles begin.” 

“You both want me to nap?” 

“Has that other contractor ruined your hearing, Hakuno?” 

Gilgamesh’s tone was hardening. 

Hakuno shook her head, kicking off her shoes, climbing into bed, and burying herself under the covers. The moment before she rested her head against the pillow, Ozy caught her face, carefully removing the makeup before she smudged up his pillows. 

“Still new to the process,” Gil observed. 

“A nasty habit. She will break it soon,” the pharaoh told him. 

The two all but settled in for a time, drinking on the bed and commenting on the wine. It was a fine vintage. It was a bit bitter. It tasted nostalgic. It was interesting. 

When the first glasses were drained, Ozymandias bid the other to come over to sit in the lounge area of the room. 

The fountain in the room was gurgling. 

The silence was setting as wine was poured. 

“Ah, another king with suitable taste,” Gilgamesh’s voice murmured. 

“Taste is either there or it is not, don’t you think?” 

“It is something I have found most to lack.” 

Ozymandias laughed a little. “And our master is strangely acquiring such taste.” 

“She is stubborn. Given the preference, she would no doubt opt for the plainness and dull colors that she has so desperately clung to in her life.” 

“I am not sure about that, my fellow pharaoh,” Ozymandias replied. “She has taken to my culture like the oasis to a rainfall.” 

“Oh?” 

“She was indeed plain. I did not see much hope for her and had considered merely telling her to return me when I was summoned. She was cold to the touch and sickly, from travel, I am told. She did not wake up immediately either. But I saw the ship that she had and she clung to myself rather than to that other master when delirious and awakened.” 

“And that has to do with taste in what manner?” 

“She chose myself, with my regalia, rather than the contractor here, with her plain and dull cloth.” 

“A master able to acquire taste is surprising.” 

“It is. I found she took to many of my things quite quickly upon awakening as well.” 

“And what did she say of myself?” 

Another laugh from the pharaoh. The two seemed to lack the sense that a person couldn’t sleep with the two of them laughing and talking in the manner that they were going about their conversation in. She just lay there, eyes closed, hearing that laugh as the two drank. 

“I could not expect a woman to compare a former servant to her current one. The preferences and customs that had become like air to her would have bothered me. I bid her to wipe such thoughts from her mind and simply enjoy my presence.” He sounded so proud. “As one should do with me.” 

“You truly think our master did not realize what servant was better?” 

“It is best for the soul we do not speak it. Jealousy, I have found in my time and in the time of my ancestors, is something that plagues the soul and burdens the mind. Needless to say, I know fully of whom she would choose. With whom her very essence lies with. I approve, of course. I wish her the best in her choice, they are not an easy person.” 

Gil chuckled. “Your tongue is double edged, king of kings…”

“As is your wine of equal bite.” 

“This is true. I find it dulls the mind of needless things.” 

“This is true. From whence did this particular drink originate?” 

“With great amusement, I must confess it comes from west of my homelands, to lands I have been told were building strange pyramids in the sands.” 

“My people?” 

“Amusingly.” 

“I consider it a blessing to find such delicacies originate from my people! I know that Hathor herself was one who indulged in many clothes from the east, from where the rivers parted and the original hero originated.” 

“Ah, so your people enjoyed the fruits of Uruk, is what you mean?” 

“Perhaps.” 

She could almost feel the prides stroked from over on the couch. 

“…Truly my master acquired interesting company,” Gilgamesh relented. 

“It seems so.” 

“I have no need for a friend, I will warn you. If that is your aim, you may cease immediately in your plans.” 

“I have no need for friends, king of heroes.” 

“Then what exactly do you hope to gain through this talk?” 

“Have you ever had a brother?” 

What? 

She was tempted to roll over, both to understand what in the world the pharaoh was talking about and to see Gilgamesh’s reaction. 

“A brother…” He seemed to almost ponder the word as he said it. “I have seen them with others. I cannot say that I have indulged in such a prospect myself.” 

“I have no desire for a new brother,” Ozymandias told him, “but I lack that bond: That trust. One who understands the boundaries of what is acceptable and unacceptable. One who understands what refinement and taste is required on a daily basis.” 

“Ah, so you need a brother in spirit.” 

“I find myself desiring one.” 

“I have no need for such.” 

She could hear the pharaoh set his cup down. “You do not know the benefits!” 

“I have no need for a brother, in spirit or in name, pharaoh. Your interest in such is laughable. A brother would add nothing.” 

“I have been with our master.” 

“You have.” 

“I have helped our master.” 

“She has improved, in ways. Nothing surprising, since I began her improvements.” 

“You note that she is happy here.” 

That voice was getting encouraging, gaining a tone that almost made it sound horrendous to disagree. The soft sound from Gilgamesh was almost dismissive. 

“She is happy wherever her servants are.” 

“She will want to join this cause that the contractor has.” 

“…Go on.” 

Hakuno waited, listening. 

“Hakuno is quite an interesting master. Quite admirable. Quite determined. Her mana has improved with being around this other contractor.” 

“It would seem that way.” 

“Allowing Hakuno to stay means facing that man from before.” 

“The bible reader.” 

“We cannot lose our master, but she will not want to leave. Our best option is to remain on the same side. We must bond in some manner.” 

“I have no need for this. Hakuno will be safe with me.” 

“She will get upset if we fight…” 

She could almost feel their gazes before Ozymandias continued. 

“She will become more upset the more we disagree.” 

“So you require me to compromise?” 

“You wish to make our master happy, do you not? To see her depend on us and us alone? To not rely and depend on that other contractor and her whims?” 

“Hakuno will not depend on that other contractor.” 

She already did. 

Gudako was good at fighting. She was fighting for a good cause too. It made sense to rely on her a little and to have her rely on her in return. The two of them together were much more suitable for saving humanity than either of them alone. 

It was something to do. 

It was a cause worth going after. 

“I have no need for a brother,” Gilgamesh told the man again. 

“One never needs a brother. They are simply present.” 

That was bold. 

“I will not answer to brother.” 

“Hakuno was reluctant to get too close to me at first as well. A pharaoh is both persuasive and admirable, even to those who would think themselves above being swayed. You should rejoice in having a god for a brother.” 

“I am the result of a goddess’ efforts, one of the only ones worthwhile.” 

“Our paths liken to one another just that much more then. It is only suitable that you would assist me in caring for Hakuno. She will enjoy your acquaintanceship.” 

“Acqaintanceship… You will regret this decision,” Gil warned. 

“I enjoy your wine, your taste in possessions. I even enjoy our mutual claim to our master. She is quite something, acquiring the finest of kings. She has no need for another, naturally, but I cannot blame her for summoning you after this. We are very alike, even in divinity.” 

“We could not be more different.” 

It was hard. 

It was very hard, trying her best not to smile at that. If the conversation flow was obvious enough, Ozymandias had just accepted Gilgamesh as a brother. 

A part of her wondered if it was due to losing Moses entirely though. 

They had been close. He had trusted the man. 

Hakuno’s eyes went to the book on the nightstand. 

Moving slowly, she pulled it off the nightstand and tucked it beneath the bed. When the others rested, she would read through the book to find out what was so interesting that Moses had felt inclined to send a locust to send this book to her. 


	12. Moses

The two fell asleep next to one another.

With the amount of liquor in them both, she wasn’t overly surprised that they didn’t move when she got up. They’d be down for hours at the very least, both from arguing with one another about the possibility of being brothers in name and from the alcohol trying to slowly work its way through their system. 

Her hands grabbed the book under the bed. 

She hurried over to the couch, grabbing one of the blankets and glancing at the cover. 

It was a nice, thick text. 

Surprising, since it had been carried along by a bug. 

Opening it up, she could already tell it was beyond her reading level. A few words were legible, but they were few and far between. 

God. 

Light. 

Creation. 

Yeah, there were connecting words here and there, but the thing was a mystery. She couldn’t make much sense of it. 

What to do then…

She didn’t want to give the book back to the two. 

Gilgamesh would find it amusing that she had been learning this language and still couldn’t read a book like this. Somehow, she could see it becoming a game to him, or the opportunity for him to push his own language of preference her way. She would find herself overwhelmed and frustrated. 

Ozymandias would burn it. 

There wouldn’t even be any debate on the matter. He would see the book from his brother and he would immediately react rashly. He’d told the man that they weren’t brothers. He had called the man an enemy for giving her a book and inadvertently scaring her. 

Given the chance, he would do something he may regret later. 

Best not to give the book to him. 

That didn’t leave many options though. 

Nitocris was too close to Ozymandias. If Hakuno went over to her and showed her the book, she would find it being taken to Ozymandias. 

Which led back to book burnings and rash responses. 

Cleopatra? 

To be fair, the servant had been recently summoned. She didn’t know the servant well, but Gudako had taken a moment once to explain that she had been a ruler in Egypt too. 

Ozy had gone drinking with her and Nitocris once. 

Most likely, she’d end up in the same position as she would end up in with Nitocris. 

She needed to think harder. 

Could she go to meet with Moses? 

It was low on her list of recommended moves and it would probably piss off both the kings to hear she had gone straight to the man that had scared her with bugs, but…

He had gotten along with Ozymandias before. 

She could just return his book to him for safe keeping and come straight back to the bedroom. She’d snuggle up between the two kings and figure out their puzzle of a relationship later. 

It didn’t sound bad. 

A bad plan would be going without letting anyone know, but she didn’t necessarily need to let these two know that she was going there. She could find Gudako and let her know before going to visit Moses. She’d visit Gudako afterwards to let her know how things went and then she’d come back here. 

Yeah. 

Yeah, that was fine. 

Hakuno moved quietly, pulling Ozy’s white cloak around her shoulders for the warmth. With book in hand, she headed for the door, slipping out into the hallways. 

It was always nice and quiet in Chaldea around their room. Gudako had placed her a good ways away from the others, both because she had the occasional mage visitor to check in on things and because Ozymandias was a rather loud and proud servant. His voice echoed throughout all of Chaldea at times. 

The first place she’d be going was to the depths of Chaldea. Right near the center were the masters’ bedrooms. Gudako herself had shown her the way so it wasn’t terribly bad to navigate. 

She smiled a bit as Jack and Santa lily passed her. 

She high fived Achilles as the man went to practice fighting with Cu Chulainn lancer. 

She turned the next corner and paused. 

The white haired man glanced over at her, his face lighting up as he recognized her. 

“I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Moses told her. 

“I wasn’t either.” 

“You’re not with Ramses,” he observed. “Is he still upset?” 

Hakuno shook her head. 

“He gets upset sometimes,” Moses told her. “I don’t blame him on this. I just wanted to do something nice, you know? It’s not every day that I run into someone who also speaks and reads our language-“

“I can’t read this.” 

Moses paused. The look on his face diminished from that excited glow. 

“Ah… I should have figured. You’re very close to my brother and you probably have not ever heard anything good about that kind of subject. I-“

“I mean I literally cannot read this.” Hakuno moved forward a bit more, ignoring her instincts for a moment to hand him his book. “I just started learning a while back, but my knowledge of your language is that this advanced. I can only make out a few words here and there.” 

He had his mouth hanging open, forming an o shape as he realized her meaning. 

“Sorry.” 

“No! No! I’m sorry!” Moses laughed a little, running a hand through his hair as he glanced at the book. “I picked a book that had the most information, but I didn’t even think about that. Of course you wouldn’t be this far in reading. God, I- You know what?” 

Moses motioned towards the hall. 

“Come with me. I’ll show you my collection of books and you can pick something that is readable.” 

“I shouldn’t-“

“I have materials about the Egyptian gods. A good amount of it too.” 

It wasn’t really about the content. It was the principle of the matter. 

She shouldn’t spend any more time than this with the man. Return his book, ask him to try to be respectful of Ozymandias, and walk away. That was all she needed to do. 

Just tell him to keep his distance. 

“Are you not a reader?” Moses smiled a little, taking a step back. His grip on his book tightened. “It’s not a big deal, miss. I just thought it would be nice to be able to speak with someone in my own language. The others here that Gudako introduced me to were nice fond of me either. Nitocris sent the medjed after me and Cleopatra…” He shuddered. 

“Can I ask you a question before I decide anything?” 

The words were out before she could think about it. 

He just… he looked so sad. 

“You may ask me anything you’d like,” the man replied easily. 

“Do you want to hurt Ramses?” 

She had a thousand questions in mind for asking the man. Why did he perform those plagues? Why had he betrayed Ramses? Why had he insisted on hurting Nefertari when the woman had never done anything wrong? Did he still want to be brothers with Ozymandias? 

Did he really think he had lost a home when he had left? 

The question she had asked was not answered immediately though. The man in front of her simply closed his eyes, his expression going to one that made him seem like he was lost. 

What was he thinking about right now? 

Did it require that much thought? 

“May I show you something?” 

Hakuno blinked. “Not until I have my answer.” 

“You would ask a difficult question. I’m not really all that surprised.” Moses shook his head. “My answer is no. Ramses is my brother. I love him. I grew up with him. We had our squabbles and our differences, but he’s the one who learned to fight with me. He’s the one who ran into the streets with me, the one who helped me carry scrolls and tablets home. I was the one who introduced him to Nefertari, finding her enamored with him.” 

Really? 

That was something to ask about later. 

Moses held the book in his hands a bit tighter. “I love my brother, miss. I love him and I’ve lost him. I won’t ask for forgiveness, since it’s not something I think he can give. I won’t ask him to forget either, because what I did I would do again in a heartbeat.” 

“Your plagues-“

Moses flinched, nodding already. “I know what you’re going to say. The plagues hurt people. I’m guessing he didn’t tell you that he lost a baby because of them. Amun-her-khepeshef. I remember the name well.” 

“There could have been other ways.” 

“Miss…” Moses sighed again. “If there were other ways, then God himself did not want them done. I prayed for God to spare my brother and his wife. They were my- They are my family. I love them so much that my heart could burst from my chest. Ra or Amun or Isis- any of those gods could have stood up to defend my brother, but they were all silent. When the world was devoid of light, where was Ra? When the world was overflowing with locusts and frogs, where was Anubis to strike them down? You can’t tell me that Set allowed all of that to happen. You can’t tell me that the gods for that time ignored the cries of the nobles and palace.” 

He stopped himself, taking a moment to look back down at the book in his hands. 

“But I cannot say that my god is not without their flaws either. Being here, seeing these other gods from other religions, I find myself a bit hesitant.” 

“I don’t want to see Ramses hurt. That’s all that I want. If you find you do want to build that relationship back up, that you do want to be close to your brother again, I need you to talk to me.” 

She would find a way to mediate. 

She could still see Ozymandias in her mind hesitating. He had wanted to be with his brother again. 

Even now, with accepting Gilgamesh as a brother figure, she knew it wouldn’t be the same. He would still want to have Moses back. 

She didn’t blame him for that. 

“There’s something you should know, miss.” 

“It’s Hakuno. My name is Hakuno Kishinami.” 

“Hakuno,” Moses repeated. He bit his lip. “My noble phantasm that I have, I can’t use it around Ramses.” 

She hesitated. 

“It’s the plagues, sped into succession and with a chance of killing enemies.” Moses shook his head. “I almost won the war I was last summoned to because of it.” 

“So the locust from earlier-“

“-was one of my attacks. I can summon the locusts, hail, or I can block out the sun and attack with my dagger.” 

He pat his belt, where a single good sized blade hung. 

“I learned how to utilize the locusts to my aims though. My last master was a fan of nature. He wanted to live out there and sometimes when we were climbing, something would fall from his bag. The bugs helped.” 

“I’ve found I really don’t like bugs.” 

“Ah.” Moses bit his lip. “I didn’t know, Miss Hakuno. Sorry about that. That must have been off-putting.” 

She couldn’t stay here forever with him. The offer of books was still in her head though. 

Moses was nice enough to offer. He couldn’t talk to anyone else and he had just wanted someone to talk to. 

Ozymandias though…

It wouldn’t be fair to Ozymandias if she spent much time with this man. 

She’d gotten close to Ozy. She’d sympathized and she’d felt what he had felt when going through those plagues. Each and every one had felt like another part of her soul being severed. And there had been no end. 

He’d lost his people’s trust for so long. He had lost his son and his brother. 

All for the purpose of some people that weren’t happy with the country leaving. 

They could have slipped out in the night. They could have simply packed and run. They hadn’t needed to stay. 

As she had said, there were other ways. 

“I’ve given you a lot to think about,” Moses told her. “I just wanted to let you know about my noble phantasm so that you can make sure to keep Ozymandias away from me while I keep my distance from him.” 

He waved the book a bit. 

“I am still sorry about the bug… and that I gave you a book beyond your level of comprehension. As I said before, I really just-“

“Do you want a coffee?” 

He blinked. 

Did they not have coffee where he was from? 

Then again, she had needed to get Ozymandias coffee before, finding him praising the drink himself. Perhaps it wasn’t really that common a drink at all for Egyptians. 

“Coffee. It’s a caffeinated drink that is really common he-“

“I know what coffee is, Miss Hakuno.” Moses shook his head. “I just am not sure why you’re offering to have a coffee with someone like me.” 

“Someone who loves their brother and feels guilty?” 

“My fellow Egyptians here all hate me.” 

“You haven’t been rude to me yet.” 

“I sent that bug your way,” he pointed out. 

“Didn’t you apologize and say you didn’t know?” 

He nodded, smiling a little. “…I really didn’t mean to.” 

That was what she had thought. 

She was treading dangerous territory, but she just went ahead, motioning at the hallway behind him. “I don’t want to hurt Ramses. He’s been too good to me. I don’t want to burn a bridge that doesn’t need burning either. If you love Ramses, then I would like to know everything that happened then. You don’t have to justify your decisions or anything like that. Just- tell me what happened.” 

Iskander had conquered so much land in his time. 

Nero had done unspeakable things before. 

Gilgamesh had married hundreds of women and used their bodies before casting them aside. 

She had a feeling that Ozymandias was no saint himself, but she wanted to understand. 

“Let’s get that coffee and sit in my room,” Moses told her. “I’ll show you my library and explain.” 

She motioned him to lead, following after him as he turned and began to lead her through the facility. 

She was willing to listen, but she wouldn’t be a fool. 

Her command spells would be useful if anything happened. 


	13. Discussions over Coffee

The scent of coffee beans and lightly roasted hazelnut met her senses as she walked alongside the man. He’d gotten a bit nervous looking when they had walked to the kitchen in almost single file so she’d decided to take the chance at walking alongside him towards his room.

Well, that and she had coffee on her side. 

Things felt more possible and dangers seemed less possible with a burning hot cup of coffee in her hands. 

“You’ll have to forgive me a bit,” Moses told her. “Since I just arrived yesterday, I haven’t really had time to unpack that much. I got caught up talking to a few religious figures in this place and there was insightful feedback that I hadn’t considered.” 

Hakuno nodded, sipping at her coffee. 

The room was tidy and cleaned up. Some cleaning products were gathered in a corner. Book stacks were piled around the sides of the bookcases, a handful of post it notes were placed on the walls where bookshelves were to be placed. 

A few trinkets, baubles that seemed rather like those in Ozy’s room were placed strategically on surfaces. A touch of class, obviously. 

She moved into the room, smiling over at him a little. 

“You have a great collection.” 

“The blessings of a long life,” Moses told her simply. He set his coffee cup on the desk and moved to put his cleaning supplies in his closet. “Anyway, please. Look around for a moment. I’ll tidy up and we’ll talk.” 

They’d talk. 

It was a good thing that Gilgamesh and Ozymandias were prone to sleeping the day away after drinking. Hakuno moved over to the first bookshelf and looking through the titles she found. 

Lots of mysterious script on these books. She wasn’t sure what to make-

“Oh! Those are in Hebrew,” Moses stated, glancing her way. “The other bookshelf is in Coptic.” 

Good to know, but she didn’t hurry over to the other bookshelf quite yet. She pulled one of the books down from the shelf, opening it and frowning at the images drawn inside. 

It showed a set of humans throwing Ra into a pit that had spikes in it. 

Turning the page, she could see an image of-

“You said you collected all of these?” Hakuno asked, setting the book back on the shelf. 

“I have. Especially those Hebrew tales. A lot of them are the only copies in the universe and I went through a lot of trouble to gather them.” 

How many were that unkind to the Egyptian gods? 

There was a major red flag in him collecting these works. The fact that he kept them and took them with him- she was here to hear him out and leave. 

Yes, that was it. 

Hakuno moved over to the other bookcase, glancing at the titles and the fine looking scrolls wrapped around brass and gold bars. The fine fabrics and adornments protecting the scrolls from damage were pretty, but that didn’t mean anything about the content. 

She was hesitant to grab anything. 

The titles weren’t encouraging: Scourge of the Pharaohs, Diseased Nile, Identifying the Gods’ Powers Around You, Signs of Bad Viziers…

This isn’t promising at all. 

“Identifying the Gods’ Powers Around You is an interesting book,” Moses offered, making her jump a bit as he came up from behind. His hands reached up, to the shelf she couldn’t really reach. 

He was using a stool, she realized, having been confused by the height difference that had come out of nowhere. 

“I love this one.” Moses told her. “It’s about Ra and Hathor. I think you’ll like it. It talks a lot about how Ra sailed in his barge and how he loved those around him.” 

“So it’s about Ramses?” 

She pulled the book from his hands, opening it only to hear laughter. Glancing up, she could see the man wiping at an eye. 

“No, Hakuno. It’s not about Ramses at all. It’s about the actual god. My brother is merely considered to be the embodiment of him. It’s still a good read though. Hathor was actually quite a strong and beautiful goddess to read about as well.” 

She nodded, closing the book and holding it close. 

At least, with a book like this, she could have Ozy and Nitocris help her with reading practice. The challenge may be for the best too. 

Keep practicing. She’d become a better reader in time. 

“Why read about the gods if you don’t believe in them?” Hakuno asked him. 

“Do you believe in them?” 

She shrugged. 

“See, I was like you. The gods were interesting. They’re fun to read about and they have some great attributes. They have qualities that people can strive for and they give everyone a sense of purpose and a sense of right and wrong. I can’t say I dislike those who worship them. It’s just…” He scratched at his head a bit, frowning a little. 

“What?” 

“Come. Sit down.” Moses motioned her towards the desk, pulling the stool with him a bit so he could sit nearby. 

A couple of the sphinxes had gotten into his room, Hakuno noted, watching them climb onto his book piles and onto his bed. They seemed to remember the man, even if he had not returned to Egypt to see Ozymandias again. Either that, or they simply smelled the same incense that Ozymandias used and came to curl up and relax. 

“So,” Moses settled onto his stool, waving his hand a bit. “Before I say something that’s essentially me sticking my foot in my mouth, I would love if you could give me a recap about what you know of my brother.” 

“Why would you be sticking your foot in your mouth?” 

“It’s a figure of speech. It means speaking in a way that makes you feel offended or upset with something that I say, lowering good rapport between us-“

“I know what the idiom means, I just don’t understand why you think you would say something and end up doing that.” 

Moses blinked. He scratched his head again. 

She’d seen him do that a lot around Ozymandias in Ozy’s memories. 

“So… My brother…”

This was going to take a while at this rate. Hakuno sat down at the desk, patting for one of the galaxy-colored babies and sipping at her coffee. 

“My brother… Well- I mean, the thing is-“

“I know that your brother did not think that the plagues were warranted. He lost a son from the plagues and, before and during that time, he was constantly believing in you. He thought you were misguided about your beliefs and he was under the impression that you were simply seeing what the workers in the city believed. Instead, you had them all leave the city.” 

“They were slaves, Hakuno.” 

The polite, sweet tone was gone. The man’s gaze was glued to hers. 

“Entirely, wholly enslaved to the pharaoh and the nobles. They did not have much bread to share. They worked all day in the sun, their skins turning darker from the exposure and many of them dying from the absurd heat. They pulled impossibly heavy bricks that they had to make with their bare hands up ramps until the pyramids reached towards the heavens. They were whipped when they stopped. They were harassed if they slowed down.” 

She’d hit a nerve. 

Hakuno nodded. 

“Don’t nod.” He scowled at her. “Don’t trivialize this. What he did-“ 

“It happened. It sucked.” 

“Sucked?” Moses stood up, running his hands through his hair. He moved, needing to pace. “Sucked is an understatement! My Almighty Lord, child, I went to him and I told my brother about what was happening. I told him to let my people go.” 

“You demanded it!” 

“OF COURSE I DID!” 

Hakuno paused, setting her coffee down before she did something dumb. 

“Hakuno- God, Hakuno!” Moses wheezed now. “Imagine finding out that someone you grew up with, someone you were close to, did terrible, horrible things!” 

“I had a servant that watched her city burn.” 

Moses was still pacing, muttering as Hakuno went on. 

“I had a king as a servant who thought that it was perfectly find to sleep with all of the women in his kingdom. He then proceeded to turn down sleeping with the goddess of love because she did the same thing that he did, just with men instead of all the women of Uruk.” 

“Hakuno-“

“I know what it’s like to be close to people who do bad things. I won’t say that they deserve forgiveness for hurting people.” 

Moses was staring at her. 

“However, it’s the past. I can’t change it without consequences. I can’t hold it over their heads forever because people are capable of change. There’s time. So much time, Moses. Why can’t we use that to help make things better?” 

The winds of righteousness seemed to have been lost. The man before her deflated, slumping back into his seat. 

“It’s not that easy,” he murmured. 

“It is that easy. It’s just that you are close to the pain and you are hurting too.” 

“Are you an advisor or something?” 

“Hmm?” 

Moses let out a soft laugh, staring down at his hands. He was still frowning, still without any of the passionate feeling that he had looked to have before. 

“My brother did bad things.” 

“He was overall a successful ruler for Egypt. He brought a lot of value and promise to the lands.” 

“He did.” 

She sipped at her coffee again, waiting. 

“…Am I a villain to you?” 

“Do you want to be one?” 

Moses shook his head. “Of course not. I don’t want to be considered evil. I did what I did to help people, Hakuno. Those poor people were attempting to survive in harsh and cruel environments. They were dying out, unable to cope. No one cared. I had God lead me to them and I learned who I was and who my people were.” 

“You sound like a religious fanatic.” 

“I found God, Hakuno.” 

“You consider that you found God in the same way that Ramses considers himself to be the embodiment of Ra.” 

The man hesitated, letting out a sigh. “That’s fair, I suppose. Those who don’t believe would consider that statement true.” 

She did consider that statement true. 

“Would you like to learn about my religion a bit? It may help you understand-“

“No, thank you.” 

That would be the same as throwing Ozymandias’ good nature back in his face. He was sensitive already about anything relating to this man and his religion. 

But…

Maybe understanding would help? 

Saying no simply because it was something that bothered Ozymandias wasn’t a great excuse… He didn’t like to stop drinking either, but she made him stop. He didn’t like ending his self-praise, but she had him focus on other things. 

“I won’t push,” Moses told her. “I’m glad that you were willing to come here to even talk to me after being scared by my locust and from having to see my encounter with my brother. I’ve already received a great amount of forgiveness from you.” 

“We both want Ramses to be happy.” 

“We do.” 

_So stop talking about your religion and ask forgiveness,_ she wanted to say. 

Insensitive and rude as that was: damn. 

So many problems could be resolved from him simply putting away the books and the religious talk for a bit and just talking to his brother. 

“I promised to tell you about what happened. So please, allow me to tell you about the situation.” 

She could already see what had happened to some extent. 

“I told you before that I had found my people. Well, truth is, they recognized me.” He laughed. “I was taken in, kind of interested when they told me about some habits that I knew I had that others in the palace did not have. They asked if I was bored. They asked if I always wanted more answers and always wanted to keep learning. I stayed out late and I learned of my people and their religion.” 

Hakuno nodded. 

“Over time, I was making up excuses to have Ramses cover for me. I would stop by the market to grab flowers for him to give to Nefertari. I would stop by the smithies to grab weapons for father. Any reason that I could find, I used it. I went back to those people and I sought more answers.” 

Again, she was nodding, sipping her coffee. 

“Things… happened.” 

Detailed. 

Hakuno went to speak, but the man held up a hand. 

“I know you want more, but I can’t remember every detail. Things went by in a blur. I was mad. I was young. I was told by God to free the people so I went back. I tried to advocate with the tools that had been given to me as a pharaoh’s son. I got in trouble. Told to not worry about the lesser people.” 

Ancient times. Ancient beliefs. 

It only stood to reason he would have that happen. 

“They were my people,” he argued, patting at his chest. “My flesh and blood. And Ramses decided to speak up only once, only for a moment. That was how much our bond meant to him. Father had him stopped like that. A pawn in a political game in the end, that was all my brother became.” 

He was a bit better than that. 

A lot better. 

“I had to do something… I had to. More were dying. I saw people who had opened up their homes to me, who had called me family, dying. I had… well, I considered that I heard God’s voice.” 

“So you had the plagues occur.” 

“God had them happen. He warned me before each one. He told me how to protect my people.” 

“Why didn’t you tell Ramses?” 

“I couldn’t tell him because he had become the problem!” 

Heated again; Hakuno gave him a look, watching once more as he deflated. 

“I found he wouldn’t listen to me when I spoke. He patted my shoulder and he smiled and laughed. He distracted me with his wife and with the life of the palace. He showed me texts and writings the likes of which I’d never seen, but he didn’t _listen on the one thing I wanted to be heard about_.”

“What about between the plagues?” 

“I went. I went after each plague. Every. Single. Time.” Moses shook his head. “I went to his throne and I advocated. Just let them leave. Just let them go.” 

There was a movement in the hallways. 

Hakuno glanced back, hissing a bit as she recognized the duo’s voices speaking up. 

She’d taken too long. She wasn’t properly dressed and she was with the last person that those two wanted her near. 

“I have to go,” Hakuno told him. 

“Please… Please visit again.” 

“I’ll visit again,” she promised without thinking. 

She hurried out of the room, carrying the sphinx and the book with her. Moving as quickly as she could down the hallway, she turned the corner, hurrying towards the library and opening the door. 

“HAKUNO!” 

“Gil?” 

She raised her voice, finding the storming of feet running in her direction. 

Ozymandias spun around the corner, nearly knocking Gilgamesh over as he rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders. 

“Hakuno! Why did you leave without us?!” 

“It’s Chaldea. What’s going to happen? I had one of the sphinxes.” Hakuno held up the kitten, letting it yawn and turn its head in the pharaoh’s direction. 

“Those things are useless,” Gilgamesh complained. His eyes dropped to the book in her hands. “What’s this?” 

“A book.” 

“Tales of Ra?” 

Ozymandias glanced over at the book, laughing a little as he saw it. “May I, King of Heroes?” 

Gilgamesh rolled his eyes, handing the book over. 

“Ah, what a joy this is!” Ozymandias turned the thick pages over, looking at the writing inside. “I didn’t think they would have a copy of this in Chaldea. This book is magnificent! Just what you need, Hakuno! A pharaoh must understand the god of whom they are reincarnated from!” 

He paused on a page, glancing over at her and smiling a bit more. 

She wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but she seemed to have spared Moses from trouble. 

Hakuno pulled the sphinx a bit closer, finding the pharaoh chuckling. 

“Share your useless thoughts, King of Kings. Your laughter makes no sense.” 

“I was merely thinking that Hakuno is quite talented at making one feel at home.” 

Gilgamesh shrugged, nodding. “She has a tendency to domesticate servants… most of the time.” 

The man would never admit that she had an effect on him. Even when she had been about to give herself to him, he had retained a bit of his denial. Actions spoke more than his mouth ever could. 

Ozymandias’ eyes simply glowed that golden color of theirs. “She rises with the sun, she spends a good amount of time reading around the sphinxes and fighting to protect humanity from evil.” 

Gil just gave him an impatient look. 

“I do believe Hakuno may be the incarnate of Bastet.” 

“Weren’t you comparing me to Hathor a bit before?” She hadn’t read up on Bastet. 

“I was, but Bastet makes far more sense.” The man nodded to himself. “It is little wonder you felt safe roaming this morning, despite circumstances.” 

“Hakuno is an NPC created on the Moon Cell, not a reincarnated goddess,” Gilgamesh rolled his eyes. “Do not place your religious beliefs on my woman.” 

“Our master,” Ozymandias corrected. 

Gil looked ready to speak, but Hakuno moved forward and looked over Ozymandias’ shoulder. “So is Bastet mentioned in this?” 

“She is. You will be pleased with her role and whom she holds affections with.” 

So… Ra. Bastet was no doubt a wife, one of many, to Ra. 

The sphinx in her arms yawned, earning a smile from the pharaoh as he looked through the book a bit more. He closed it with a snap, motioning for them to follow his lead. 

“Come. We shall dine and consider this a day for bonding in the training grounds! A pharaoh with his brother and woman cannot be stopped!” 

“Make him stop calling me that,” Gil hissed to her quietly. 

“I’ll get right on that,” Hakuno replied back. 

But it might be good for them to get close. 

Seeing Gilgamesh get dragged into a conversation with Ozymandias, finding the golden king caught up in a discussion of valuables that had the man snickering a bit, Hakuno found herself hesitant to stop them from getting closer to one another. This could be for the best. 

Gil could make Ozymandias and Moses sit down together… eventually. 

Yeah… She just needed to think of a way to bring them together. 

She needed a reason for them to bond again. 


	14. Sibling Rivalry

Another training session. Hakuno found herself turning down the opportunity as soon as Gudako announced that Moses would be going.

“You don’t want-“

“I am a bit tired,” Hakuno lied, tucking her feet beneath her dress. “Could I sit out today?” 

She was wimping out. 

There was no getting around that fact. Long hour, die hard training had been the regular for weeks on end. She hadn’t shown any signs of fatigue. She hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to slow down. Her and Ozymandias were a team. 

They were an impenetrable team. 

“Why don’t we take turns today,” Gudako offered. “You should train with Gilgamesh and Ozymandias. I could take the afternoon and you could have the morning to fight in the training grounds. It might be nice to watch someone else and think about strategies before I go in to fight.” 

That would possibly work. 

It was bonding time, after all. She could make the two men work together and see use in each other. Gilgamesh and Ozymandias getting along and seeing eye to eye could be really beneficial. Plus, Ozymandias was so cheerful. 

If he got Gilgamesh to be more upfront…

“You don’t mind taking the afternoon?” 

It would be hot in the training grounds by then. The mornings tended to be a little chilly, since the sun hadn’t risen and the dew lay in the grass in thick droplets. 

“I love the afternoon,” Gudako replied, waving a hand. “Besides, whenever we go together, I tend to lose Nitocris, Iskander, or Cleopatra to you anyway. This just means that I can focus on the servants that are mine and you can focus on the ones that belong to you.” 

She had a bad feeling about that. 

“Alright.” 

Hakuno climbed to her feet, stretching a bit and setting her book from Moses aside. “Let me go wake up the kings and we’ll be over there.” 

“The other day was a bit messy, but you’ll be fine. I’ve dealt with servants hating each other before.” Gudako pat her shoulder. “Remember I have Medb and Cu Lancer. Moses and Ozymandias will get along soon enough.” 

Not really the same thing, but…

“Thanks, Gudako.” 

The red head winked to her before heading for the door. 

She would be fine with them. 

Gilgamesh had fought with her before. He was focused, arrogant. The man would probably show off to his ends and the two would end up in one of their complimenting cycles where the two were complimenting one another when they were talking about themselves and the other would continue the habit until she finally just went to lay down or interrupt them. 

It would be fine. 

Ozymandias would probably laugh for twenty years, being joined in by Gilgamesh. The sound would at least have more space to echo in and would probably bring their enemies to them quite quickly. That meant that she could easily level Gilgamesh up to where he needed to be and they’d be done. 

Fine. 

It would be fine. 

“Gil. Ramses.” 

Hakuno started on Ozymandias’ side of the bed, nudging him gently. 

“Guys, it’s time to get up.” 

The pharaoh gave a soft sound. 

This again, huh? 

Hakuno had to smile a bit, leaning in. "My pharaoh, it's time to get up." She pressed her lips to his cheek, attempting to simply wake him and then move to wake up Gilgamesh. 

But there was an arm wrapping around her waist. She was being pulled in. Her hands landed on his chest, her body rolling under the pharaoh’s. 

A pair of lips were pressing to her own. 

She could feel her body heating up. She could feel her mind spinning. Ozymandias was pulling at the skirts of her dress, lifting the fabrics up a little higher. She could feel his hands reaching skin, stroking at her legs as he kissed her. There was a rush going through her, adrenaline starting. 

He had to stop. 

They weren’t alone. They weren’t in a good point in time to even think about this. 

Her arms were useless though, holding onto his shoulders. Her lips were moving against his, finding herself unable to stop. 

It was like before. He was too much for any woman to be around for this long. Too many compliments, too much potent pharaoh time to handle breaking away. 

It was nice to feel him murmuring that she looked stunning too. 

She had a reason to stop this though. 

“You smell like the perfumes that I got you,” Ozymandias was purring. 

She had indulged, if only to get him to stop being upset that she wouldn’t tell him where she had found the book she was reading. She had put it on if only just to get him in a mood to let her read today. 

A useless gesture now. 

“You smell like the finest oasis, like a flower in bloom,” he cooed. 

She was blushing. She could feel the blush on her face and she really needed to-

There were things to do. 

Fighting. 

They should be fighting enemies. 

“What’s this?” 

Hakuno froze as she felt Ozymandias lowering himself to her waist. She could feel his lips on her navel, she could feel another presence looming over her as she held onto the pharaoh’s shoulders. 

Looking up, she could see a pair of blearing red eyes scowling at her. 

Words. 

She needed words. 

Gilgamesh was looming over her face and Ozymandias was starting to actually do things that they had only hinted towards before. She could feel his hands near her center, stroking at her thighs. 

It was time to stop. 

Her lips moved, but only to open. 

No sound came out. 

She tried to sit up. 

She found herself kissing the archer. 

Heat flooded through her body. She found the king climbing over her a little more, his hands pressing to her face. She could feel him tilting his head, nipping cruelly at her lower lip until she opened her mouth to let him in. 

Ozymandias’ mouth had found her center. 

Gilgamesh was swallowing sounds. 

She was going to burn. The room was getting too hot. 

Her pleas weren’t even words. She could hear her voice, but it was unintelligible, it was weak. She could hear the king laughing, climbing over her body to block out the pharaoh from her view. 

Something hard was-

“Hakuno, Da Vinci wants to know when… you…”

Gudako stared over at the bed. 

“G-Gudako.” She was sliding away from the kings immediately, pushing her dress back down. She could already see the assumptions building. “It’s not-“

“I’m going to tell Da Vinci an hour.” 

“GUDAKO!” 

Gudako was heading out. 

“What a rude master,” Gilgamesh drawled. She didn’t even need to look back to know the man was naked and no doubt proudly stretched on the bed. “How is it that you always find masters to spend time with that have no sense of privacy?” 

“You will have to forgive us, my brother,” Ozymandias chuckled. “I woke up and smelled her perfume. I could not resist.” 

She had to look back. She had to at least face them when they were talking to her. 

Hakuno glanced back at them to see Gilgamesh raising a brow. 

“I must confess I was having a moment with our master. It’s natural. She is attracted to me. I’m sure you heard her sounds of acquiescence.” 

Gilgamesh just leaned against the pillows, staring at the pharaoh. 

“It may happen again. I’m not responsible for such things. Attraction simply is. She cannot help but be overcome by her emotions.” 

She was never touching him again. 

“Did you happen to see her face when she made those sounds?” Gilgamesh asked softly. 

“I have no need to. Hakuno is still shy to touch. It is best to let her simply dwell in her emotions the first time, without her self-conscious tendencies getting the best of her.” 

So he hadn’t seen…

Gilgamesh’s smirk was almost sinister, the man moving to stand up now. 

“I see.” 

“It’s pleasing to know that you are as comfortable with the intimacy as you are with your own body.” 

Gilgamesh glanced over his shoulder at the man. 

He was closing the door behind himself for the bathroom, leaving them. 

“Ramses, I was-“

“No need to explain or feel nervous, master.” Ozymandias climbed to his feet, pulling her to himself and pressing a kiss to her neck. “You felt good in my arms this morning. I told you that I would reward you for indulging yourself more. I did not think you would indulge in perfumes so quickly. Perhaps there is more I could find for you. I will think on this.” 

“That’s not what I need to say. Ramses, Gilgamesh was-“

“He was there, I’m aware. Did you not see me address that?” The pharaoh motioned at the door to the bathroom. “He is my brother. He understands.” 

Good lord, fine. 

Hakuno shook her head, turning away and smoothing her skirts a little. “I’m going to take some medicine and we’ll head to the training grounds. Gudako offered to let us have the morning to train Gilgamesh.” 

“We’ll shape him into a fine pharaoh.” 

_Please, Ra. Anu. Horus. Someone. Please let me handle these kings._

At least enough to deal with this. 

“Hakuno?” 

She could feel his arms wrapping around her, the tanned skin and golden eyes doing her in a bit. The man was as bad as Gilgamesh. 

“There is no problem, Hakuno.” The pharaoh murmured. “Ease your mind of the stress and listen to your pharaoh when he tells you this. You are where you need to be. I will do my best at training your former servant to be stronger. You’ll see.” 

“Gudako will be training her new servants today,” Hakuno warned him. 

“That may be, but I have no reason to associate with her new servants. They are not family.” 

She went to speak, but a pair of hands went to her back, rubbing deep, distracting circles into the building tension. She could feel his lips press to her neck. 

“Watch and be amazed.” 

“Ramses?” 

“Yes?” 

“Please get dressed.” 

The man laughed, turning away from her. She could see the door to the bathroom was open. She could see Gilgamesh was fixing his jacket into place, eyeing them a little as the pharaoh backed away. 

“We shall fight valiantly this morning, king of heroes! And then we shall dine like I did when I was alive!” 

“I’m sure we will.” 

The pharaoh went into the bathroom, leaving her to watch the king of heroes simply fix his cufflink and glance over at her. 

“He’s a fool.” 

“He’s a good servant.” 

Gilgamesh glanced at the door again, almost curling his lip at the thing. “When are we leaving, Hakuno?” 

“Gudako is doing something important here.” 

“We were traveling.” 

They had been. 

“You need to explain to me what you thought you were doing this morning as well, Hakuno. Resting next to that pharaoh is one thing, but this?” He strolled across the room, stopping in front of her. “You are aware that you are not a pharaoh?” 

“I’m well aware of that.” 

“Are you doing this to humor him then?” 

She gave him a droll look for that. 

“You know that you are to stay at my side,” he told her simply. “This king of kings and his game of house is cute, but it means nothing in the end. You already belong to someone and you have already accepted your place.” 

“I know that.” 

Kind of. 

“He is naïve in thinking you didn’t get that book from his brother either.” 

Hakuno stared at him. 

“Did you think I wouldn’t realize?” The blond was chuckling at her now. “It was obvious. The mongrel of a contractor here would not have a book in such condition. I have seen the other texts you have read here. The book you have now is in far better shape… but that means that you went to visit his brother. You are playing both ends, Hakuno.” 

They’re brothers. They should get along.” 

“Should they? I believe the pharaoh mentioned that he would not claim the other as his brother.” 

“He also said you should be his brother.” 

Gilgamesh nodded a bit. 

She didn’t need this right now. 

Gudako was out there, wandering off and telling the others to avoid her room at all costs. She was thinking there was some sort of threesome happening in this room and that they were getting along like that. 

She needed to correct that mistake. 

It would be best to simply clear out that mistake now before it gained trac-

Her thoughts stopped the moment that she felt Gilgamesh lean in. Once more, she found her mouth stolen, her mind blanked out as the king messed with her. 

What was he doing? 

Hakuno felt her body being pulled in closer, his jacket being removed after a moment and wrapped around her shoulders. And then she was pulled in more, pressed chest to chest with him. She could feel him holding her tightly to him. She could feel him taking his sweet time about this. 

A soft sound escaped her again. 

“What are you two doing?” 

There was something… dark about how the pharaoh said that. 

Hakuno pulled back a little, only to find Gilgamesh pulling her arms through the sleeves of his jacket and smirking over at the man. 

“A master should stay warm, should she not?” 

“There is no need for you to do that with her.” 

“She was making such interesting sounds,” Gilgamesh purred. “It sounded a lot like this morning, don’t you think?” 

No, he hadn’t thought that at all. 

But now he was. 

“Let’s not waste time, shall we?” Gilgamesh continued, ignoring the growing displeasure in the room. “I plan to show my fellow king how well a master and her king can fight today.” 


	15. Endangerment

The whole scene turned into a mess.

If the displeasure in their chamber had been any indication of what was to come, then she should have simply climbed back into bed and settled in for the day. 

Her hand was trapped in Ozymandias’ hand, held tightly as they wandered through the hall. She could hear Gilgamesh make a comment here and there. The halls were too plain. The place was too quiet. 

“The most difficult,” Ozymandias instructed Da Vinci. “My master and I are training the new servant today. Allow us to train him well.” 

“Ramses,” Hakuno started, but it didn’t matter. 

Gilgamesh merely laughed, holding the door open for them to the rayshift. There wasn’t any concern about the fact that they were going into one of the most difficult areas with him at a low level. Those red eyes gleamed. 

“The pharaoh doesn’t realize how desperate he looks to be demanding such things. I see.” 

“A brother does not touch what belongs to me so intimately like that, King of Heroes.” Ozymandias narrowed his eyes at the man. They walked into the room, all but ignoring the instructions as Da Vinci wished them well and sent them off. 

The trees swayed. The skies overhead were dark, filled to the brim with mana and threatening to storm at any moment. She could feel the electricity in the air, making her nerves stand on edge. 

“It is not something to be given lightly, the title of brotherhood.” Ozymandias stated. “Yet you would cheapen the-“

“I did not agree to be your brother. I have no need for such a thing.” Gilgamesh grabbed his chin, leaning in close. “Your eyes may be worthy of note but the more powerful between us is still obvious.” 

“Indeed it is, but it is clear whose tongue wags like that of a snake.” 

Gilgamesh arched a brow, but the world around them wasn’t going to wait to attack. 

They needed to stop. 

If they didn’t, they would risk them all in the training grounds. They were around real enemies, working to gather the odd embers that these beasts carried within them. It would raise the levels of their mana, increase the power in their attacks and magic. It was imperative that they managed to get through this, but if they didn’t…

There was a chance they could die in going to the training grounds. 

Seeing the woods around them and sensing the enemies not far off, Hakuno opened her mouth only to find the two servants still bickering. 

“I will not be your brother.” 

“Ponder your words carefully, King. It is an offer that will not be offered a second time. If you are not my brother, then you hold no place near what is mine. My master has become simply that.” 

“And how many women were there before her? Does she know that you tend to bed women simply for the sheer pleasure of having another child for your collection?” 

Oh no. 

“Gilgamesh! Ramses!” Hakuno moved closer, but they both held up a hand. 

“Let us make our peace,” Ozymandias growled. “Sit but for a moment.” 

“Do you think persuading me into your delusion will suffice in a mere moment?” The king of heroes simply laughed at the thought. “Hakuno was taken in by your appearance, as any maiden with a shred of hope for learning to appreciate pleasure would, but I will not falter so easily.” 

“I would hate to remove the very servant that my master and woman was so dearly mourning until I happened upon her.” 

An eyebrow raise. 

“Was. She has grown.” 

“Guys,” Hakuno tried to step in again. 

The targets were growing closer. She could feel her phone on her side already beginning to vibrate. The others were calling. She didn’t have her mic and headset put in yet. She needed to put those in place and talk to the group. They needed to be fighting right now. 

“Ah, yes. She has entirely grown from that.” Gilgamesh moved in closer. “Is that why you caught her in my arms this morning, Pharaoh? Is that why, while you were busying yourself with trying to explore that which belongs to me, I was busying myself with the taste of her lips?” 

The pharaoh was shaking. His staff was coming into fruition. 

“I COMMAND YOU BOTH TO NEVER ATTACK ONE ANOTHER!” 

They both paused at that. 

She could feel both of them glare her way. 

She glared at them in return. 

“That’s enough! From both of you. I don’t plan to die here and I don’t plan to deal with one of you killing the other. Ramses, Gilgamesh isn’t your damn brother. You have a brother. Whether or not you want to talk to him-“

“Well said,” Gilgamesh took a step her way. “As one would expect from the woman who ran to his brother’s side when we turned a blind eye.” 

Shit. 

“You went to him?” Ozymandias’ lifted his chin. She could see him becoming still, waiting. 

“Oh yes, by all means, Hakuno. Inform the great pharaoh where his great woman wandered off to in order to get the book that she has been reading.” 

“We don’t have time-“

“We have plenty of time.” Gilgamesh grinned. 

Damn it all. 

Hakuno glanced over to the pharaoh a moment before they felt the mana surge behind them. 

“ENOUGH!” 

A hand pressed to her shoulder. 

Of all the people to send here, this was not the person to send and this was still not the time to have this argument. 

“Cu Chulainn! Emiya!” Gudako’s voice could be heard nearby. “Let’s head to the enemies! We’ll leave them to talk!” 

Her face was burning a bit. 

The hand on her shoulder didn’t pull back. 

“Hakuno was returning the book that I offered her.” Moses told the pharaoh. “I gave her a text that was too difficult to read and she was wanting to be polite.” 

“We have nothing to say to each other.” 

“We don’t, but Hakuno is as kind as Nefertari, I think.” The man smiled a bit her way before glancing to the pharaoh once more. “If you’re going to be mad, keep it at me. We can just hate one another as we should have in the first place.” 

“How dare you…”

That was going too far. 

The man was trying to have his brother back, in Gilgamesh and in general. For him to say that… 

“Don’t.” Hakuno reached out, but the man took her hand, patting it a moment. 

“Ram…” He stopped, shaking his head. “Rider, Hakuno is very much on your side. She is a very strong supporter of you and she truly believes you to be a great person. If you become upset with her, then believe me, nothing would make me happier than for her to come and stay with me.” 

Gilgamesh moved to speak, but the pharaoh raised a hand. 

“Don’t bother, King of Heroes.” Those golden eyes flashed as they looked at Moses. “I have no reason to mistrust Hakuno. Her seeing you was nothing more than the whims of a woman who wishes to help those whom she loves.” 

Moses nodded. 

“Hakuno,” Ozymandias held out a hand. “Come here.” 

Of all the things they needed to do right now, going over to the pharaoh’s side was about the last thing on that list. She could see Gilgamesh watching, no doubt enjoying the whole scene. She could see Moses waiting, his face as stoic as ever. 

There was enough tension in the air to make it apparent that things would not decelerate any time soon. It would only become worse. 

And the man holding his hand out to her would be the first to make things messier. 

The sounds of battling and slaughter could be heard behind them. She could hear the sounds of Cu Chulainn and Emiya harassing one another as Gudako gave commands. 

“Hakuno.” 

The pharaoh repeated himself, but that tone said it wouldn’t happen again. 

Her feet moved before her mind could process what she was doing. She didn’t go to Ozymandias. She didn’t hold Moses’ hand. No, her feet led her straight to Gilgamesh, until she was pulling his hand into her own and pressing her face to his chestplate. 

The laugh that rang out was louder than ever. 

“Ah, what entertainment! But my master knows where she belongs, doesn’t she?” 

A hand brushed through her hair, smoothing it back as she heard the king’s voice closer. He was leaning against her just to show off. 

“In the end, a leader divided leads none, King of Kings. You lack control. You lack the capability to hold your world together.” 

That wasn’t fair. 

It wasn’t like Gilgamesh had held his world together any better. The man couldn’t say his friend’s name. He refused to talk about anything related to the other being. From what few memories she’d seen from him, the other would have wanted him to talk too. The other would have wanted him to have friends and associate with others nicely. 

Enkidu would have wanted Gilgamesh to get along with these two and not be making a damn scene in the training grounds instead of fighting and defeating the enemies that were actually around them. Not making enemies out of the allies they had. 

“I am not his world,” Moses growled. 

Moses was more than his world, he was his brother. 

If there was anyone in the world that had meant more to the pharaoh, it had only been that woman, Nefertari. The pharaoh had done everything for Moses. He had loved Moses, even after he was gone. The mistakes haunted him. The pure depths of those pains still cut at him. 

No, Moses meant everything. 

“You’re right.” Gilgamesh all but purred his agreement. “You’re less than significant. A mere mongrel that dared to preach needlessly to a pillar.” 

It was simultaneous. Ozymandias and Moses were both snarling. They were both saying the same name, letting it echo in the trees a moment before they were joined. 

Thank god, Hakuno thought as the two appeared in a flash of speed. 

Emiya blocked Ozymandias. 

Cu Chulainn blocked Moses. 

The king of Heroes picked her up gently as Hakuno found herself watching Gudako come through the trees. 

“What’s going on now?” 

“I’m putting a king in his place,” Ozymandias hissed. 

“My master has decided that she is tired of dealing with this situation between the pharaoh and his young brother,” Gilgamesh replied smoothly. He turned away from them all, giving his back more to show emphasis than to walk away. 

He didn’t need to see what they were doing. 

He didn’t need to concern himself with whether they would lunge at him. 

They were, in his mind, nothing. 

It was a dangerous thought to have, to consider them in such a manner, but Hakuno couldn’t do anything about it. Gilgamesh was holding her too tightly against his armor. 

“Hakuno?” 

“My master is tired, woman,” Gilgamesh told her again. 

“Gudako,” Hakuno peeked over the king’s shoulder. “Just… take us back for now.” 

The world around them changed in almost an instant. She could hear the door opening nearby as she closed her eyes. 

They were never going to hear the end of it. For good reason too. They could have been attacked without them realizing. They could have been seriously hurt and then there would be no purpose to the question of what servant she liked or whether Moses thought of Ozymandias as a brother or not. It would have been nothing more than a trivial dream from a selection of lose souls. 

“THAT WAS RECKLESS!” Da Vinci’s voice rang as her footsteps approached. “GOING TO THE TRAINING GROUNDS TO BICKER?! REALLY?!” 

Da Vinci sounded so mad. She could hear Mash chiming in her agreement, but a glance only let her see both Moses and Ozymandias glare at the king. The two were going to both make him pay for his words, but more than that, there’d be another who would pay.

There would be hell to pay for her decision. 

Her hands tightened on the gold armor as Gilgamesh carried her out.


	16. Plots And Pleasure

Fury was too kind of a term for what she felt at the moment.

Gilgamesh carrying her back to their bedchamber was humiliating when Nitocris and a handful of the others saw her. She could see the other pharaoh’s ears droop, her face falling at the sight of her in another’s arms. 

For some reason, that really made her spirits fall. 

Upon their return to their room, Gilgamesh told her that they’d be finding a different room from the one they were in. In fact, he basically dumped her on the bed and told her that they were moving. 

“You don’t have anything here anyway.” 

She had so many things though. 

Looking around the room, she had loads of things. It was just that she had them with Ozymandias, not with Gilgamesh. 

She had spent enough time with the pharaoh that the tablets and scrolls in the room were hers. Just looking at them reminded her of all the nights of reading with the pharaoh’s head on her shoulder and his arms around her waist. 

She could see the first few times she had tried to read when she looked at them, remembering all the times she had stumbled over the meanings of the different hieroglyphics. Some of them seemed very similar at first. It seemed like they changed with each pharaoh a little as well, making the process of learning no easier. 

The statues and the flowers in the room were also hers. 

Ozymandias had kept gifting her them. 

“This one is for protection.” 

“This is also for protection, but from nightmares.” 

She had needed a few more of those. 

“This one is for health.” 

“This is for pleasure.” He’d grinned. “It is pleasing to the eye so it is one of those immediately successful statues. Merely gazing upon it brings a lightness to one’s spirits.” 

Well… 

She was looking at the bird statue now, but it was hard to feel her spirits lift. 

Everyone was just being so damned stubborn. 

No one listened to one another. No one gave the other the opportunity to express what was going on. For rulers, they were all terrible leaders. 

She glanced to the dresser nearby. 

A fraction of the items on the dresser were hers. 

She wasn’t even sure when she had gotten into wearing makeup, but now she was stuck wearing it. And she wore it often as well. It felt better. 

Her servants had spoiled her. 

To have Gilgamesh throw around his authority like that and just toss all that away like it was nothing was a worse insult than anything else. She had missed him. She knew he was at least somewhat smart, but damn if he wasn’t being an asshole. 

Damn if she didn’t almost miss before he had come. 

And what did that make of her? 

She had stayed because Gudako had been willing to help her summon Gilgamesh. She was to get him back and then… 

And then… 

Roam? 

She’d done that with him before. 

They’d roamed through several places in the universe. They’d been attacked, hunted, performed killings, hid baubles from hunting space pirates. 

While they could go back to that, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be stuck roaming through space. 

If anything, she was more tempted to remain in Chaldea. But that meant that Gilgamesh would need to swallow pride and be kind to people. He would need to be able to work with teams and he wasn’t showing that. 

Not only that, but… 

She still had Ozymandias. 

It wasn’t like what had happened in the training grounds would suddenly negate the pharaoh’s presence from their lives now. The pharaoh had answered her call and now he was a part of her life. 

Moses could be take or leave, but Ozymandias was permanent. 

If they traveled, it would be her with both Gilgamesh and Ozymandias. 

They would be roaming through the universe on the same ship, dealing with the same adventures and the same struggles as a three person party instead of two. 

The further they went, the more they would have to rely on one another. 

It didn’t matter that Gilgamesh didn’t want to call Ozymandias a brother. 

It didn’t matter that Ozymandias didn’t think Gilgamesh to be worthwhile in the sense of being someone she had feelings for. 

In the end, they would have to be a team. 

They would have to, she thought, glancing to the door. 

The Chaldeans were mad right now. She doubted that they were going to be able to get into the training grounds for a good long while. In fact, it was more likely that she was going to be banned from them until her team could prove themselves. 

And she doubted that the two men were going to prove themselves to be tolerant of one another right now. 

Every time that Ozymandias made a remark towards Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh would no doubt throw a Moses comment the pharaoh’s way. 

Ozy would get mad. 

Gilgamesh would find it funny. 

Things would spiral. 

There would be no talking either of them out of it either. They’d find their own way of getting away from one another and they would leave her to decide who to go crawling to in order to settle things down once again. 

Well… 

There was nowhere to crawl on Vimana. 

She’d spent months on that damn ship, shivering away on the king’s throne and hating the silence of deep space. All those shows with the pretty stars in the distance and the beautiful colors of space? 

Entirely bullshit. 

It was black. It was dark. The only light really came from suns that would be passed from a safe enough distance that one wouldn’t burn to death. 

Hakuno remembered the readings well enough, how a lot of planets had needed to be avoided due to air compositions that would be impossible to live in. 

If she tossed both the idiots onto Vimana and saved Chaldea’s location, she could drag the two fools into space and force them to have time together. Ozymandias could talk for ages upon ages to Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh would be forced to listen to him. Gilgamesh could run through his gauntlet of insults until he was forced to be civil. 

It was stupid. 

They’d both be mad at her. 

They were both already quite mad at her though, weren’t they? 

If she did this, she’d also be forcing herself to endure their nonsense as well. The two would talk her ears off and then keep going. She’d find herself being pinned between the two kings and forced to pick sides often. 

But they would see her get upset and they would be unable to avoid the truth. 

That didn’t solve the trouble with Moses, but it was a start. 

Gilgamesh working with Ozymandias, the two men being on the same page of the same damn book, would mean that they could resolve the trouble of Moses together. 

It was a stupid plan, but it was her plan and she would see it through. 

There was just the matter of letting Gudako and the others know and getting Gilgamesh and Ozymandias to Vimana when they were asleep. 

Hakuno turned, giving the bird statue an appreciative pat before she headed for the door. 

It opened upon her reaching it. 

“…Master.” 

Ozymandias calling her master was not good. 

Not with that tone. 

Seeing the narrowed gaze and the stern set of his face, Hakuno took a second to think. Perhaps not even a second. She just couldn’t stand the way that he was looking at her. 

She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. 

“Don’t…” 

He pushed her back down, scowling further. 

“You have not impressed me today, master. You decided to walk to the king of heroes rather than to me.” 

“Ramses.” 

“You will need to do much to make up for this slight, master.” 

“I know, but Ramses-“ 

“You may begin by informing that golden king that he will be apologizing to myself for his actions. I will accept wine as compensation.” 

She hummed a moment before moving back into their room further. She turned around, grabbing the pleasing statue. 

Holding it up to the pharaoh, she switched to his native tongue. 

“This is for you.” 

“You are returning-“ 

“It’s a statue for pleasure,” Hakuno told him, continuing. “It’s pleasing to look at and lifts spirits so you know it is an effective statue. I was upset about my first servant arguing that I should move into a room with him and leave our room, but this statue helped me feel better and figure out what I needed to do to make things better.” 

The man looked at the statue a moment before looking to her. 

Slowly, a small smile came to his face. 

It was almost not there at all. 

“…It is a pleasing enough statue.” 

“It is. I like it as much as I like all of my gifts from you.” 

There he was, her pharaoh was back and he was pleased. He ran a hand through his hair a bit and pressed his lips to her forehead. 

“Come have something to drink with me.” 

“I was planning to talk to Gudako for a little while.” 

His face fell. 

“…One drink.” 

She found herself on his lap, wrapped up in the man’s arms and drinking from his goblet with him when she asked for a small amount of a drink. 

Later in the day, when she had some time, she would go and plan a little more with Gudako. 

In the meantime, she was back in the pharaoh’s grasp, a scroll in her hands and a selection of material about the great gods of Egypt available for her to read. Her voice was stumbling over harder writings, finding herself corrected here and there on reading. 

“Say it with more conviction.” 

She did, just for getting him to lean back and relax. 

The man was soon leaning against the back of the couch more, his mouth opening in a yawn. 

She pulled him into a laying position, bundling them both under the blanket. 

The pharaoh fell straight to sleep, cuddling her close. His body cradled her close, but a phone was nearby. 

She could text. 

_Gudako?_

It took all of a moment for the message to go through. 

_**Hakuno?**_

_Could you help me get Gilgamesh and Ozymandias to Vimana? I am thinking of taking the two somewhere._

**_You’re going somewhere?_**

_Just for a short time._ She would just force the two kings to get along through a very long time together in space. They would find themselves putting up with one another until they either bonded or she would go insane. 

A response came, but the door was opening nearby. 

Hakuno closed her eyes, closing the phone and waiting as the person entered the room. 

Both herself and the pharaoh were picked up, carried over to the bed and tucked in. She could hear a bottle opening nearby, a small grumbling coming a moment before the sound of the scroll being opened up came. 

Glancing the king’s way, she could see Gilgamesh reading. 

She ducked further underneath the pharaoh’s arms, glancing at the message from Gudako. 

_**Sure, if you want. Just tell me when.**_

Thank goodness for Gudako. 

She had Ozymandias asleep. 

Now, she just needed to wait for Gilgamesh. 


	17. Curse of the Ancients

The idea of isolating Gilgamesh and Ozymandias on Vimana and forcing the two to come to terms with one another was a great idea. It would ensure that the two had time to get everything out in the open. It would ensure that the two had to be stuck with one another and build some agreements and compromises between them. Overall, it would ensure that she had the opportunity to work with both of them without having to deal with these frustrating back-and-forths.

Gilgamesh wouldn’t be able to harass Ozymandias forever about how he had been with her first and how she had almost given herself to him before the pharaoh had ever had a thought about her in his head. 

Ozymandias would not be able to make it seem like she had built this world of worship around him that was unable to be penetrated by the great and glorious king of heroes. 

The two would be boiled down to their essences in the depths of space, left with themselves and the world of silence. 

That was the problem though. 

Even as Ozymandias returned to the room and began to awaken Gilgamesh to get into another argument about what was a proper room for her to remain in, she could feel the creeping chill running through her person. 

This was for both of their sakes. This was to help them in the end, but it involved going straight back into the darkness of space. It involved hours upon hours of being in the depths of the cold and harsh silence of space yet again. 

Hakuno could remember it well enough. 

Hours upon hours, expanding out before her like a rug being forever unrolled. The stars around her glittered all around her, teasing about life and civilization. They glittered from such a distance that it was impossible to gauge the distance and, in her sheer brilliance and desperation, she’d found any distance was about a thousand times farther than she had predicted. 

Going back into the depths of space meant risking being lost once again. 

There would be no happening upon Chaldea. 

Chaldea would be behind her for a time before it would be just a fragment of a speck in the universe. 

She could crash land on a planet without her servants. 

She could end up separated and-

“Hakuno!” Ozymandias pulled her away from her thoughts, waving an arm for her to hurry forth. “Tell this man that you wish to remain in this room!” 

Gilgamesh laughed, leaning back on the couch and watching the pharaoh in amusement. That knowing look was only matched by the snake statue next to him. They both had their gleaming eyes on the pharaoh. Both had the same curve to their lips. 

“A child crying to their parent, you do greatly amuse me with your childish mannerisms, King of Kings. It is a shame that Hakuno will be slowly and effectively destroying that desperate need for attachment that you’ve developed for her. She knows her place.” 

“How uncouth of you to say, King of Heroes. If I remember correctly, it was not I who left her alone and in the cold for so long. Imagine my surprise at being summoned by a woman who was fortunate enough to escape the useless and manage to summon me before collapsing from sickness. She was out cold for days, King of Heroes, blue in face and shivering uncontrollably.” 

“Mere miscalculation. Fortune favors the brave, Pharaoh.” 

Ozymandias leaned back, nodding. “Indeed…” He turned away from the king. “Which is why the brave summoned me. It is why the brave sought out my body, my warmth; she sought out the sun to rid her body of the icy grip of the servant that came before. It would be foolish to release such a hold. Returning to the past is impossible. The future is still bright though. In fact, it’s more radiant than that of the celestial orb to which gives all life.” 

They were not going to fall asleep while fighting like this. 

Hakuno looked around, trying to think for a moment. 

These two were going to get worse before they got better, but she had to act if she was going to get them to go to sleep. Trying to ask them to go on a bonding trip on Vimana wasn’t going to work either. 

The infirmary wasn’t too far from her room…

Sleeping pills. 

She could slip them into a bottle of wine and give it to the two men. 

Did drugs work on servants? 

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Hakuno told the two, finding that they were caught up in their bickering too much to notice her movement. 

The hallways were quiet right now. 

Snowfall was coming down in thick flakes outside the window. The exterior of the base was a series of grey, like someone had wiped away the scenery and wanted to make the building feel more isolated. As she moved through the building, she could tell that someone had turned down the lights in the halls, trying to make it easier for people to relax inside. 

“Hakuno!” 

Hakuno held a finger to her lips as Gudako slipped out of a nearby room. 

“I’m heading to the infirmary,” she told the woman. 

“Oh?” 

“I need to put Gilgamesh and Ozymandias to sleep.” 

Gudako stared at her for a moment before laughing. “Oh my god. You’re going to knock them out and then have me help you drag them to your ship?! I thought they were already asleep!” 

“No, no.” 

The two didn’t seem to have any qualms with staying up until she was passed out. Even then, there was a high chance they would beat her at waking up again. 

They moved together down the hall, keeping pace as Gudako hummed a bit. 

“You know, there are probably better ways of handling this.” 

“If you have better ideas, please. Let me know. I’ve tried taking them to the training grounds together. I’ve tried to talk to them. Their egos are so thick that just talking turns into a charismatic war where I’m having to pick sides and both of them are intent on me being on their side of the argument. The training grounds just bring up the other problem I have of Moses being around here.” 

“Moses is so nice though.” 

Hakuno glanced over at the woman, earning a shrug. 

“I won’t disagree. You’ve got a mess on your hands and there really isn’t a good way to handle it since you get so close to your servants. I tend to opt for friendship most of the time. Sure, I have to hear a lot about Mash from them at times, but it really does level out nicer.” 

“That doesn’t really work for me.” 

Never had. 

For some reason, her relationships always seemed to slip right around the concept of friendship and slips straight into intimately close and loving. 

The king of heroes had used her as a plaything for so long that it had almost seemed stupid to go to the lengths she had gone for him. Then, things had slowly started to change. They had escaped all the trouble, escaped the war and the Moon Cell. The hand that had taken hers had reached further than her hand, caressing her cheek. 

She had turned her face a little more, staring up into those red eyes and finding those lips against her own. 

The taste of her pride had been traded for the taste of the king’s lips. She had found his hands wrapping around her waist more often. She had found her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her eyes closing. 

Then there had been the cold and the darkness. 

There had been hours on end of that bone chilling black closing in around her yet again. 

She hadn’t been falling this time, she’d been coasting through the silence. 

Tears couldn’t flow this time. They froze to her cheeks when she tried to cry. Agony and loneliness had settled itself into her body as she had been left to drift through space. 

Then the pharaoh had come along. 

Warmth had filled every moment. 

She’d been just a master. She was just someone to help him get from point A to point B. Her goal, in his eyes, was to use him until things were done and for her to know that she was never going to be what Nefertari was. Being his master and being strong enough to stand at his side was enough. 

Then things had changed. 

Suddenly, she was back into the same situation, held close and tasting the lips of another king. Suddenly, she was once again cradled in the arms of a ruler as she was lying in bed. 

“Hakuno?” 

Hakuno paused, glancing over at the woman nearby. 

“Are you sure that you want to travel on Vimana through space right now?” 

“I don’t have a choice.” 

Whether she wanted to be traveling through the depths of space or not, she was going to have to accept that this was just going to happen. She needed to put on a brave face and step forward, knowing that she would be scared the whole time. It was how she had conquered the Moon Cell. It was how she had moved forward after all her friends had died. 

One foot in front of the other, she would be bullheaded and stride for the future. 

“Hear me out,” Gudako told her, following after her into the infirmary. “You could choose to drug your servants, making them realize what you’ve done in the final seconds of their passing out on the bedroom floor. We could drag them to Vimana and we could shoot you all off into space. Maybe they’ll learn to get along, maybe they won’t.” 

“Gudako, I told you. I don’t really have any other ideas in mind and I really don’t have time to think of a better plan.” 

Things were only going to worsen. 

Before she knew it, they were going to end up in a tragedy or horror situation if she didn’t act. Someone had to really manage this situation. 

The Chaldean master stepped in front of her though, raising a hand to keep her from the pill cabinet. 

“I’m not done.” 

Hakuno sighed, motioning her on. 

“What if we could resolve the problem of Moses and the problem of your two servants fighting?” 

“Gudako-“

“Hold on.” Gudako grinned, waving her hands. “We’re going to curse you.” 

Curse? 

Oh, that would be the worst decision out of all the options. 

Gilgamesh had lost his friend through a curse from the gods. Vengeance had struck home in the form of the being being cursed to die. Gilgamesh had been forced to hold the being in his arms and had become overwhelmed with the mortality of life. 

And then Ozymandias…

She shivered at the reminder of the plagues. 

“We can’t do that.” 

“Oh? Because they have bad memories?” 

Gudako wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her away from the cabinet. 

“Hakuno, you have been reading a shitload of those books about Egyptian curses and history and pharaohs and gods. If you tried, we could mimic the signs of one of those curses and I could monitor the pharaoh and Gilgamesh until they were finally getting along. I could shove Moses their way to help. You know the man would probably help. He thinks that you’re nice enough.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

That was really so comforting. 

“Hakuno,” Gudako drawled, pulling her further from the cabinet. “My idea involves you being unconscious for a time. You get to miss the two fools arguing back and forth. You don’t have to take sides or yell at them or anything. You just have to lay there and wait.” 

“And you’ll just awaken me when things are done.” 

“Like waking sleeping beauty from her beauty sleep,” Gudako agreed. “You miss all the trouble, Gilgamesh and Ozymandias will get along. Moses becomes the great hero and the two agree that he’s fine to be around you. Problems solved!” 

It did mean she got to avoid deep space. 

Cursing herself was not a great plan though. 

“We would need a powerful set of magecraft done. And how would we ensure that whomever helps us doesn’t undo it when Gilgamesh and Ozymandias come looking for them.” 

“Leave it to me.” Gudako told her. 

Drugging Gilgamesh and Ozymandias was smarter. They would know outright what her goals were and could bicker at her for a while before they came to a reluctant compromise. 

“Hakuno,” Gudako murmured. “They’re going to spend months lecturing you before even looking at one another. Months. You won’t come back for years at a time and then you still have the problem of Moses.” 

“It won’t be-“

Gudako gave her a droll look. 

That was more of her kind of thing to do. 

She was more accustomed to being the one to be giving the skeptical looks…

_This is uncomfortable. No wonder Gilgamesh tends to reneg on his plans._

“Curses though?” Hakuno crossed her arms, puffing up her chest a bit. “We’re asking for trouble in trying to utilize the curses of the gods. Should one of the gods themselves happen upon our plans and decide-“

“Oh my god, you make them sound like they’re not like heroic servants but almighty beings or something.” 

Gudako burst into a fit of laughter, wiping at her eyes a little. 

Really? She had Stheno and Euryale here! 

“Sorry,” Gudako whined. “I’m sorry! It’s just… Sometimes I forget that you’re really big on your servants’ gods and stuff. I am all for learning about my servants and I like their cultures and stuff but like… I don’t know. I don’t really think about their cultures that deeply!” 

She was not helping her feel better about this. 

“Alright, we can probably get Medea to put you under. We can make it seem like one of the Egyptian gods cursed you and have Ozymandias and Gilgamesh have to work together to help save you.” 

Hakuno crossed her arms, waiting. 

“It will be better than a decade in space!” 

Would it? 

“If anything goes wrong or the two resolve their problems with themselves and Moses, then I’ll wake you right up and things will be good." 

"Fine..." 

There was no helping it. 

Gudako was going to argue with her until she gave in. she may as well give this a try. If it did’t work, then she would simply go with her other plan. 

Who knows, maybe she would think of a more brilliant plan while she was under. 

Maybe she’d finally get a decent amount of sleep. 

They moved through the corridor, pounding on Medea’s door and telling the woman about their plan. Hakuno thought carefully to herself a moment before she brought up a handful of curses she’d read about. 

The other two frowned at the information about acids and misfortune, but the servant stood up, moving to her drawers and nodding a little. 

“I think I have a plan on how to make the two think it was a gods’ curse… Are you ready, Miss Hakuno?” 

She didn’t have a better plan. 

“Let’s do this.” 

The alarms sounded an hour later. 

The flashing red lights flickered all throughout Chaldea, rousing two servants from their back and forth fight and the rest from their slumber. 

A figure lay unconscious in one of the libraries, a tome broken on the floor near her. Acid dripped quietly from the broken insides of the tome as the doors were opened and Gudako’s yell for help could be heard. 

A white-haired prophet paused before the scene, staring into the room in horror. 

“… Oh no… Hakuno…” 


	18. Dye Cast

They were both sprinting from the room. They were both running down the hallways as quickly as they could, with him behind the pharaoh just a step so that the man could lead him to where Hakuno was. While he had no use for the knowledge of this place, it was becoming inconvenient already to have Ozymandias before him.

Yet, there was no helping it. They’d heard the news from the sobbing mess of a pharaoh.

“Hakuno… in the library,” Nitocris had finally managed to choke out.

The woman had been inconsolable, which meant that something serious had happened to his Hakuno.

The pharaoh’s brother was investigating a series of tablets on the table. Gudako was having another couple of her servants look over a tome on the floor. The one with the longer hair was motioning at the tome, pointing out the hole in the stone and arguing enough that the blond would shake their head and argue back.

“WHERE IS HAKUNO!” Ozymandias demanded aloud.

Gudako paused from where she was sitting nearby. The prophet nearby looked up, physically paling and all but falling ungraciously into a seat behind him. In fact, the entire room was lowering to seats or averting their gazes.

Cowering; they were all cowering.

“We asked a question,” Gilgamesh growled, stepping forward.

The pharaoh should have been more interested in what had happened, but perhaps he could not read a room as well as him.

One glance around the room said that Hakuno was alive. Gudako wasn’t depressed, but rather- she was determined. The two servants with her were arguing over a tome, but not a weapon. Their debates over the dangers of the compounds they were noting said nothing of death.

No, more likely, based on the pharaoh’s brother’s response; Moses had done something that had injured Hakuno and Nitocris had found out from them and come to find the two of them to strike forth with the adequate punishment. It would explain why Gudako looked guilty but not concerned. Despite her attempts otherwise, it was obvious enough from her fear not reaching her eyes right now that she was not concerned.

She knew more than what was in this room.

What was the intent behind this?

“King of Heroes. King of Kings.” Gudako moved forward, her acting going up a notch with a gentle hand going to Ozymandias’ arm. “We need to talk in the hallway.”

“Do we?”

Gilgamesh leaned back, watching Hakuno’s precious servant boil.

He would allow: Hakuno had a way of knowing quality, despite her lack of ability to take true pleasure in things.

Ozymandias took a step forward, his mellow personality dropping like a stone. Those golden eyes were hardening, looking deep into Gudako’s as he towered over the poor woman. In true fashion, as befits a king, he was lowering his voice.

“Where is my master, Chaldean?”

The soft tone built the fear that he had expected from the woman to begin with. Gudako’s expression was narrowing, her body taking a step back.

Gudako motioned for the hall again, the master trying her best to hold herself together. “There’s um… I think some privacy would help.”

Ah, but there would be no privacy.

He didn’t blame the pharaoh for being proactive on this, merely admired him for his actions. The angry king of kings turned to his brother, that mood of his furthering towards outrage. As he watched, the man took a couple steps around Gudako.

“What happened?”

“Hakuno was passed out and we don’t know her why.”

Better.

Although this wasn’t necessarily the first time that Hakuno had been unconscious.

Gilgamesh glanced towards the halls again.

If he were a betting man, he’d guess she was most likely in this place’s version of an infirmary. They were probably trying to understand why an inhuman woman was having such a situation occur without understanding that she was created after a human, rather than simply being the human herself.

He’d have to have someone with technical experience maybe analyze her vitals or something.

Quite honestly, he’d had those useless others around on the Moon Cell for this kind of thing. Watching and mocking was far better than being a part of this problem.

A couple days was the solution to this issue.

Yes, as Ozymandias began to lose his temper and roar with the volume of his mighty voice, Gilgamesh looked to the other master of this place and shook his head.

“Where are you keeping her?”

“The infirmary. I’ll show you the way.”

Ozymandias glanced his way, noting the door opening and heading after them.

The entire way there, the man was unloading for demands about Hakuno’s condition. What was she doing when they found her? Had anyone been with her? Had anyone figured out what his brother had been doing? Who was the first on the scene?   
“She was found by Moses, but the man was quick to run to me and he was sobbing. Pharaoh, I don’t think he has anything to do with this. In fact, I can vouch for him.” She sounded too confident on that.

Ozymandias pressed on. Why was no one punished yet? Did they have no clairvoyants nearby who could attest to what had occurred.

Ah, yes.

He could possibly try his hand at clairvoyance again. There was the risk to Hakuno, but a brief glimpse into the future would require little mana from the woman.

That was something he really hadn’t considered, but the last time he had, it had been shortly before waking up yesterday. The vision had merely shown him doing what was within his rights. His figure had been tossing the pharaoh into the depths of space and taking Hakuno on Vimana as he had originally intended.

She’d been stubborn, even yelling at him for a time.

Still, he had no doubt she’d come around eventually. He’d resume his travels with her easily enough.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have let her slip from the chambers last night so easily.

“Ozymandias, if I knew something, I would tell you!” Gudako whined, turning them down another hallway. “Believe me! I don’t want my friend suffering either! She’s been a wonderful person and I won’t let her die or be hurt!”

His eyes closed with those words, looking ahead.

_”I didn’t know! We thought it’d be fine! I thought I could just wake her up!”_

_”AWAKEN HER HOW?_

_”The curse we chose-“_

“We’ll wake her as soon as we work together to find the problem out,” Gudako told the pharaoh, her face as determined as ever. “I know with everyone working together, we can prevent anything from happening to Hakuno. I don’t want her hurting.”

A curse didn’t hurt though.

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes on the woman, his head turning back towards the direction they’d come from.

Hakuno and Gudako had worked together on this for some reason.

They’d decided on a curse and now Gudako was naively believing that the whole thing could so easily be resolved by simply awakening the woman.

“Pharaoh.”

Ozymandias looked his way, his brows furrowing. “King of Heroes, what is it?”

“Gudako has done something… Was the prophet brother of Ramses involved?”

Immediately, he could see the woman blanch. She shook her head.

“I don’t know what you’re-“

“Do not lie, Hakuno will not wake up.”

“She won’t wake up because someone other than-“

“Do not lie. It’s unbefitting of a master of so many servants. It’s bad enough our own master must be punished for such actions. Your attempt at getting your ends has failed anyway, Chaldean. You cannot awaken her.”

The mask of a lie was cracking. Gudako was now looking worried, truly worried.

A look was given to both him and Gudako before the pharaoh rushed for the infirmary. He threw the door open, running in only to find the woman in one of the beds.

He’d give it to the Chaldeans: They’d made this almost flawless.

Other than the master’s poor acting skills and Hakuno’s condition being unintentionally serious, he would have most likely gone along with the plan over time.

As it were though…

He followed the pharaoh’s lead, moving to Hakuno’s side and beginning with checking her temperature. She felt healthy. There was no look of sickness on her face or any bluing of her lips or leakage from her nose or eyes.

“Pharaoh,” Gilgamesh looked to the man and nodded at the door.

The moment it was shut, he was undressing her.

Where to begin with problems presented. The stinging alone from touching such marks lingered on his hands.

The patterns were unlike anything he’d seen. Little images here, lined up like writing, went across her back and under her arms. It seemed that, whomever had done this, had done so with a meticulous amount of work.

A glance to Gudako said she hadn’t known about this.

A glance to Ozymandias said that the symbols were ones he recognized. His face was slowly draining of color, his eyes widening as he scanned over whatever nonsense these symbols harked upon.

“Gudako!” Ozymandias glared at her.

“Are those from you both?”

“AS THOUGH WE WOULD PLACE SOMETHING LIKE THIS UPON OUR OWN MASTER! INSOLENT WOMAN!”

“H-Hakuno shouldn’t have those!” Gudako hurried forward, shaking her head. “Alright, alright! You’re both scaring the shit out of me.”

She pressed a hand to Hakuno’s person, closing her eyes and summoning her mana.

Her eyes opened only to widen.

“What…”

“What is this, woman?”

Gudako paled. “Hakuno should be waking up.”

“What do you mean, she should be waking up?”

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes as well; “I told you already, that you would be unsuccessful in awakening her. What did you do to curse her, mongrel?”

“You cursed her and don’t know how to awaken her?!” Ozymandias roared.

”I didn’t know! We thought it’d be fine! I thought I could just wake her up!”

”AWAKEN HER HOW?

”The curse we chose was just a certain mana coded spell! I would just need to shoot some mana into her at the last minute!”

Fool.

They were both fools: Her and Hakuno.

But Ozymandias was already waving a hand.

“Bring my brother here. He would know how to read our writing enough to possibly know the source of this curse!”

No trying to shy away from his family now, was he?

Gilgamesh glanced at the writing again before nodding. “Find Nitocris as well… and anyone else with inclinations for the pharaoh’s writing.”

Gudako was running. The door swung shut a moment before Ozymandias was tracing along the marks.

“These refer to Ra’s insolence… but I do not recognize the curse, King of Heroes. For someone to have gone behind our backs in this manner and attacked our master directly…”

Someone must have felt threatened by Hakuno.

They had seized the opportunity with Hakuno passed out with her fake curse to actually set a curse upon her. There were other powers at play in this place and the fool of a master had been successfully caught up in their foolish enforcement of Hakuno picking a servant to keep and a servant to abandon.

Now they had no choice but to work side by side.

All those within Chaldea were their enemy.


	19. The Moses Alliance

Fake curses and real curses, frivolous games and conflicting troubles; Ozymandias could feel his head already aching from this nonsense.

Truly, his master was a careless fool. 

She was young though. The young often were prone to such childish thoughts and interventions. A wiser method of getting himself and the King of Heroes to communicate would have been finding an isolated and quiet space to sort themselves out. Proper wine and accolades would have fared far better than these lies and these stresses to their wellbeing. 

What’s more, the woman’s faith had been laid in the hands of those whom could not be trusted. 

He wouldn’t say that Gudako was responsible. By the blood in his veins and the brilliance that he possessed as the incarnation of the sun god himself, it was apparent to his eyes that Gudako was innocent in this matter. Her confession to the trouble was quick, as it often was with her gambling tricks and games. Her fear for her friend and fellow master had been deep and troubling. 

They could trust her because she was in agony over what she had done in this plan of Hakuno’s. 

As much as he was inclined to selfishly hold his hard-earned master, Ozymandias found himself keeping off the bed. He allowed the woman’s fool of an original servant to hesitantly hold their master close, bundling the blanket around her person enough to keep her covered. 

That was not to say he liked said attentions to the woman. 

That was not even to say that he would allow himself to lose such a master to the golden haired king. 

He was too weak, not in strength nor prowess. He could hold his own well enough in battle and he was sure that the other possessed great talents with that charisma that had distracted him from the fact that their master had left the room to get into this trouble to begin with. 

However, Gilgamesh possessed no relationship strength. 

None. Whatsoever. 

It was an astonishing fact, all things considered. It was something he could see in the way that the man touched her now, knowing that she was passed out and unable to respond. 

There was a way that he went about the task, aware of the presence nearby and the incoming company that they would soon have. He acted as though intimacy and caring, as though anything that truly showed any emotion for the woman before him, was a cursed and sacrilegious practice. He held her, but not too close. 

A single wrong move would have him fleeing her side. 

A single poorly given word would have him denying care and devotion to someone who held a heart filled with sympathy and loving as deep as the greatest waters in the universe. 

What pains it must have been, for someone so glorious and powerful as a so called ‘king of heroes’, to be able to possess and hold the admirations of such a delicate flower and to sully any opportunities through his lack of actions. 

He lacked the finesse that the woman required. 

He lacked the swallowing of great pride enough to seize something that would further his grandeur. 

“I am here!” 

Ozymandias glanced towards the door as the man entered, watching him panting. A collection of books were in his hands, his face was covered in sweat and his body looked as though he were going to keel over on the spot. 

“You are permitted to look only,” Gilgamesh growled from the bed. “You may not touch, speak the words aloud, nor are you permitted to inspect for further writing since that is for myself and the King of Kings to complete.” 

Ah, he was remembering that they shared the ownership of their master. 

Ozymandias allowed himself the reward of a hum at those words, motioning for Moses to come closer. 

“I shall get you some water,” he told the man. 

“That would be wonderful,” the other told him absently. 

Things would not change from this situation. 

No, he would not trust such a man as this once more. There was too much water between the two of them. There were too many details and circumstances that had brought them to this point in time. Despite whatever intentions that Hakuno had held, it was clear that she had simply felt torn over himself and the king of heroes disagreeing. 

“These markings are like nothing I’ve ever seen,” the man told Gilgamesh, his hands moving the tablets he had brought. They were tossed onto the side of the bed idly, the man flipping through one after another before Nitocris entered. 

“Perhaps if someone had paid more attention to that which they had been studying as a child,” Ozymandias pointed out. 

He remembered well the way that Moses used to pour over mysterious texts and scrolls when they had been together. The man had been known to lounge about as a mere boy, losing himself in text after text. 

There had never been a day when the boy that had been his brother had not been filling the air with tales of the gods. He’s spoken of glorious battles and dashing pharaohs, of viziers and temptresses, of beasts and of the changes in the land around them. Always creating new worlds, his brother’s knowledge of the universe in the eyes of the pharaohs had merely added more and more admiration in his heart for his people. 

It had been those tales that had swelled his heart and given him the drive to pursue the greatness that had given him these golden accessories and this grand appearance. It had been the devotion in the boy’s voice that had filled his own heart with pride and joy at being a pharaoh of that same prowess and brilliance. 

His heart had been adrift like a feather from Anubis’ scales when he had soared his way to his wife, Nefertari’s arms. When he had seen the beauty for the first time, it had been with the knowledge of his brother’s love and the knowledge that his brother had given him that had allowed him to extend his hand forth and wrap it around the woman’s own. 

Those eyes of that inspiring boy now looked upon him with the aged burden of having betrayed him, of having hurt the very lifeblood that had comforted him when all had turned dark and demented in their world. 

“I may not have pursued my knowledge as I would have had things been different,” Moses murmured, “but I remembered everything. Every second of every day and every word from every page, I have been burdened with the memory of it all, even passed my dying day.” 

“And yet nothing of these markings is familiar.” 

Their golden haired company clapped his hands between them, snapping his fingers at Moses. 

“Do not look at him, boy! Look here. I have little time for your squabbles and less patience for your games than my master possessed. Nothing you have here is recognizable with these markings?” 

“No,” Moses turned away, returning his attention to the marks. “Nothing I have has to do with Ra’s hubris.” 

“Do you believe there will be more information located in your library? Has anything that you’ve shared with Hakuno mentioned anything that could pertain to this?” 

The man blinked. 

As did he. 

“I mentioned this before, don’t you remember?” Gilgamesh explained, although it looked to be with great displeasure that he bothered. “The mongrel has been providing reading material for Hakuno.” 

“Yes, but it was hard for her to read,” Moses pointed out. 

“Not anything else though!” Nitocris moved over to them now, joining the conversation. “My pharaohs and friend, Hakuno has been studying our language and our writings for weeks on end. She’s read through a handful of the libraries.” 

Then someone may have taken the idea from Hakuno during any of those times reading. They needed to be looking at casters, questioning and harassing each of them for signs that they were responsible for-

“Then our master may have simply read something and informed Gudako and whomever helped with their initial plan about what curses she knew.” Gilgamesh waved a hand to Nitocris. “Fetch Gudako once again. We must interrogate whom else was involved in this affair. I suspect we have a caster lurking about with guilt upon their person.” 

Had they not already agreed that this was nefarious in nature? 

Nitocris looked to him and waiting for his nod, hurrying off a moment before the door was slammed shut. 

“Nothing leaves this room.” 

Ozymandias found both he and his brother looking to the king, watching him adjust the woman in his arms. 

“I doubt that anyone with a lack of knowledge in these markings would be capable of setting such a predicament onto Hakuno.” 

Moses nodded, “I doubt it too, but…”

“It leaves our number of guilty people lacking. It does not help that Hakuno has been sifting through those texts.” The man wrinkled his brow, looking down at the woman he was holding. “She has always been determined. She wastes her efforts so spectacularly.” 

She was loving and devoted. 

_What a fool._

There were not many who could read their writing in this place. Even as the man’s words sunk in, that left them to simply himself, Moses, and Nitocris. 

That, in itself, was troubling. 

Nitocris’ devotion to Hakuno was seen on a regular basis. The woman had been the one to teach Hakuno how to read the writing to begin with. She had been the one to assist in warming his master up to him in ways that he would not have been able to do alone. Her moral support had been a pillar that the woman had not realized she had become accustomed to. 

As surely as the sun would rise, Nitocris would never do anything to bring harm or turmoil to Hakuno’s life. 

Himself? Well…

His devotion to his master was as clear as the sun that graced the earth. His fortitude and strength were hers and would never have been sullied in such a manner as to betray her. He had stood at her side all this time. He’d held her in his arms and rid her of the pains of having lost her great former servant that she had risked her life to originally bring back to her side. 

When others had been unknowing and untrusting of her, it had been his hand that had cradled her face and seen her true worth. 

Days had passed with her frail and sickly in his bed. Days more had passed with her, so new to this world of Chaldea, learning how to adapt and accomplish anything. She had needed him and he had met her, task after task, through all of it. 

His arms could have been severed and he would have laughed at the fool who had struck at him. 

His heart, as it had been before, could have been ripped from his chest; yet, he would return to her hand and lay his head upon it. 

Perhaps it was his folly, to love those who would wound him this way, but he would never have wounded or done this to his master. 

Which left…

“King of Heroes,” Moses’ mind had reached the same suspicions. “I swear upon God and all that he represents that I did not do this to Hakuno. I will confess that I do not know her well. I do not understand quite the relationship that she has with… with the king of kings.” 

Those eyes flickered to him with that hesitation. 

“Hakuno did come to speak with me and she was defensive of the king of kings, attempting to get me to question morals and perspectives. I will admit that I was not fond of her words either, all things considered, but-“

“You did not like her?” 

Gilgamesh held a hand up, halting his words as Ozymandias went to argue against the whelp. 

“Continue,” the king growled. 

“I could not do this to Hakuno.” Moses motioned at the slumbering woman. “This kind of work is something that someone, with knowledge I lack, completed. To do this, someone would need to be well versed in this kind of information. They would have to know about the gods and about the various crimes that they’ve committed and how the gods punished one another. There’s nothing I’ve read that has gone this deep.” 

“Nothing before here,” Ozymandias pointed out. 

“Then this is a false lead?” 

They both stared at the king. 

“There are three of you in this place that can read this, correct?” 

“Four, including Hakuno.” 

“You said this was complicated. It’s something that no mere mage could whip up on a whim?” 

Moses nodded. 

Gilgamesh leaned back and closed his eyes, frowning for a moment. The room was so quiet, so unnatural for a moment as they waited for the man to explain himself. Only the sound of the machinery and the lights could be heard around them. The fluorescent flickering in the corner was beginning to burden him. 

“…I cannot see anything.” 

The man frowned deeper, looking to the two of them. 

“You fools will both remain on rotation with my master.” 

“Our-“

Gilgamesh glared at him again. “I have no time to entertain these games of claiming and dominion. Hakuno is unconscious and my companion is unable to accompany me from this place. Someone is responsible and it is someone that permits me no insight into their uselessness.” 

“I can help look after Hakuno,” Moses told him. 

“You will continue to look into these markings upon Hakuno,” Gilgamesh told him. “Breathe nothing to anyone about our hunt for the responsible culprit. Make them all believe we are wholly investigating these offensive scribbles upon my master’s back.” 

“You trust him?” 

The fool would placing his reliance on someone who held no qualms with turning his back upon those he grew up with. He was placing his trust on someone who had betrayed him. 

Those crimson eyes flickered to him a moment before the man smirked. 

“Are you saying that you do not trust in your master’s original decision to trust him?” 

He scowled. 

“That is, after all, what Hakuno did, was it not? She crawled through these meager halls and crept into his personal space, inquiring about tomes and knowledge that you had failed to provide her. She sought his insight and even had the audacity to wag her tongue against him, completely separated from your side and without any advantage. The fool chose to fight with a bull, possessing no partner nor weapon to spar with.” 

“Your point?” 

The man hummed, brushing a hand through the woman’s hair now. Those knowing, mocking eyes closed as that smug smile formed on his face. 

He was a foul thing, the king of heroes was. 

“I merely enjoy watching you suffer,” the man told him. “The prophet and ruler will be permitted to see and protect Hakuno, merely because I deem it so and that fool of another master will wish for someone aside from us to look after her. The woman will no doubt fail to trust us alone after are disagreement with one another the other day.” 

It had not been a disagreement, it had been a fight. 

However, he had a point. 

His lip curled at the man’s insolent nature, his opinion of the brute lowering further. 

“He will have short times to look after her,” Ozymandias informed the man. “It will be only when you and I must meet to compare our findings.” 

“Is that so?” 

It was. 

Ozymandias turned his gaze to the man nearby. 

“Should her condition worsen,” Ozymandias warned, “should you do anything that will endanger my master and woman, there will be no plague you can strike upon me that will hold my wrath back. You have shown me your god, but you have not seen my own.” 

The doors opened nearby, Gudako entered the room with Nitocris and a purple haired woman. Along with them, Hakuno’s preferred little sphinx crawled his way in, earning the blessing of being held in his arms as the new woman introduced herself. 

“I am Medea,” she told the three of them. “When I cast my spell, it was merely to block Hakuno’s mana from circulating and a simple sleep spell. It was nothing that would require writing or anything upon her.” 

“Do you think these markings are fake?” 

Ozymandias glared at Moses. 

Had the king of heroes not just demanded for their suspicions to be kept private?! 

“No, Hakuno said she was going to leave a book open about curses,” Medea told them. “When I left her in the library, we had her seated in one of the arm chairs, the light shining on the book in her lap. It would have been clear without needing anything more.” 

“Could she have gotten up after that?” 

The caster started a bit, her expression darkening. “Are you doubting my casting capabilities?! I just informed you I put her to sleep.” 

Moses shook his head, “but you said it was a simple spell.” 

“And Hakuno had her mana blocked! She wouldn’t have been able to wake up!” 

“ENOUGH!” 

Ozymandias barked at the two, glaring at the caster as he approached once again. 

“You need to work with Nitocris to remedy this situation. Your work is responsible for her current state of being!” 

“Ramses,” Moses murmured, moving a bit closer. 

“I didn’t do this!” Medea glared at him. “She was just asleep! It was a simple spell! It wasn’t this tangled, messy nonsense I’m looking at now!” 

“Then you are an incompetent magician?!” 

“HOW DARE YOU-“

“ENOUGH!” 

Gudako stepped between them, glaring at them both. 

“Ozymandias,” Gudako glared over at him. “I-“

“Master,” Moses moved between them. “Allow me to take him back to his room for now. I think Gilgamesh is going to hold their master for now and watch over her.” 

Gudako stared at him in surprise. 

“He’s right. Hakuno is in this state and someone needs to do something before she is hurt worse. We need someone who is well versed in magic and spells to look into ways that we can help return Hakuno to normal. Perhaps in knowing how they did this, we can find out who did this.” 

“I’ll get Melloi up and working on it,” Gudako agreed. “He’s always been gifted with mysteries.” 

“Come on,” Moses told him, looking his way. “Pharaoh… I want to be on decent terms with you… at least until Hakuno awakens once more.” 

“Only until then,” he told the man. 

Gilgamesh was right about the man’s participation. 

He was commanding enough to assist with keeping that other master from allowing someone dangerous near Hakuno. 

“Lead the way,” he told the man that had once been his brother. 

They would see what truths would come soon enough. 


End file.
